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PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


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BR  515  .A57  1893  v. 5  c.2 
Carroll,  Henry  K.  1848-1931 
The  religious  forces  of  the 
United  States 


C^e  (American 
(D^urc^  J^xBtot^  ^txitB 

CONSISTING   OF   A   SERIES  OF 

DENOMINATIONAL  HISTORIES   PUBLISHED  UNDER  THE   AUSPICES  OF 

THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  CHURCH  HISTORY 

<B»enemf  (B^itote 

Rev.  Philip  Schaff,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.  Bishop  John  F.  Hurst,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

Rt.  Rev.  H.C.  Potter,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.     Rev.  E.J.  Wolf,  D.  D. 
Rev.  Geo.  P.  Fisher,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.  Henry  C.  Vedder,  M.  A. 

Rev.  Samuel  M.  Jackson,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 


Volume  V 


American  C^uxc^  ^iBtoti^ 


HISTORY  OF  METHODISTS 


IN    THE 


UNITED  STATES 


BY 


J.  M.  BUCKLEY 


0 


t^t  C^miiart  feiterdfute  Co. 


MDCCCXCVl 


Copyright,  1896,  by 
The  Christian  Literature  Co. 


CONTENTS. 


Bibliography xi 

Preliminary xvii 

CHAP.  I. — The  Fatherland  of  Methodism. — Medieval  English 
Christianity. — Revolt  of  Henry  VHI.  from  the  Pope. — Estimate 
of  his  Reign. — Progress  of  the  Reformation. — Attempt  of  Mary  to 
Revise  It. — The  Protestantism  of  Elizabeth. — Inconsistencies  of 
James  I. — Usurpations  of  Charles  I. — Presbyterianism  and  the 
Commonwealth. — Degenerate  Reign  of  Charles  II. — William  and 
Mary. — Religion  and  Morals i 

CHAP.  II. — Progenitors  of  the  Founder. — The  Rev.  Bartholo- 
mew Wesley.— The  First  John  Wesley. — His  Persecutions  and 
Death. — The  "  Patriarch  of  Dorchester." — Early  Life  of  Samuel 
Wesley. — Changes  his  Religious  Views. — Ordination  and  Mar- 
riage.— Ancestry  of  Susannah  Wesley. — Her  Character. — Domes- 
tic Relations  and  Influence 27 

CHAP.  III.— The  Man  of  Providence.— Childhood  of  John  Wes- 
ley.— At  Charterhouse  School. — Development  in  Oxford. — Ordi- 
nation and  Fellowship. — A  New  Religious  Movement. — Moral 
Darkness  of  the  Age. — Death  of  his  Father. — Missionary  to  Geor- 
gia.— John's  Disappointments  and  Conflicts. — Indicted  by  Grand 
Jury. — The  Reasons  for  Refusal  to  Sign 49 

CHAP.  IV. — Genesis  and  Growth  of  Methodism. — Wesley 
Emerges  into  Light. — In  Herrnhut. — Preaching  the  New  Evan- 
gel.— Controversy  with  Whitefield. — Issue  with  Calvinism  Accen- 
tuated.— Formation  of  Methodist  "  Societies." — Erection  of  Chap- 
els.— The  First  Conference. — Doctrines,  Rules,  and  Institutions.— 
Charles  Wesley. — Jean  Guillaume  de  la  Flechere 73 

CHAP.  V. — In  the  New  World. — Embury  and  his  Companions. — 
Barbara  Heck's  Appeal. — Increasing  Attendance, — "The  Old  Sol- 

V 


vi  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

dier." — The  First  Methodist  Church. — Peculiar  Legal  Document. 
— The  Dedication. — Origin  of  Methodism  in  Maryland. — A  Ques- 
tion of  Priority. — Appeal  to  Wesley  for  Preachers. — Arrival  of 
Robert  Williams. — Men  and  Means. — Death  of  Whitefield. — Ex- 
ploits of  John  King. — Asbury  Sails  for  America. — Amenities  and 
Toils. — Parson  versus  Preacher. — Stipends — Criticisms — Hospital- 
ity.— Sowing  beside  all  Waters. — Powerful  Reinforcements 97 

CHAP.  VI. — Early  American  Confkrkxces. — Minutes  of  First 
Conference. — Human  Nature  not  Extinguished. — The  Second 
Conference. — Boardman  and  Pilmoor  Return  to  England. — Influ- 
ential Accessions. — Exploits  of  Philiji  Catch. — Portents  of  Civil 
War. — Coincidence  of  Conference  and  Congress. — New  Form  of 
Opposition 139 

CHAP.  VII. — In  hie  Throks  of  Revolution. — Wesley  and  the 
American  Cause. — Wesley's  Forgetfulness. — The  Vital  Error. — 
Wesley's  Own  Testimony. — Explanation  of  Wesley's  Course. — 
Conspicuous  Triumphs. — Declaration  of  Independence. — Rankin's 
Last  Sermon  in  America. — Asbury  Forsaken. — Arrest  of  Judge 
White. — Judge  Bassett's  Heroism. — Defining  Asbury's  Preroga- 
tives.— Self-originated  Ordinations. — Erection  of  "  Barrett's  Chap- 
el."— Alarming  Discord. — Rapid  Increase  in  Members. — National 
Jubilation. — Methodism  in  New  York  City. — New  Opportunities. — 
Stringent  Rules  against  Slavery. — Asbury's  Opponents  Silenced  by 
Wesley 158 

CHAP.  VIII. — Blended  Romance  and  Reality. — The  Typical 
Itinerant. — Benjamin  Abbott. — Strange  Experiences. — Views  of 
Southey  and  Coleridge. — Jesse  Lee  as  a  Soldier. — A  Pathetic  Ap- 
peal.— Unity  in  Diversity. — Moral  and  Mental  Pathology. — Ra- 
tional and  Scriptural  Discipline. — Spiritual  Influences. — Distin- 
guishing the  Human  and  the  Divine 201 

CHAP.  IX. — Orcaniza  iTON  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
— Coke  Becomes  a  Methodist. — Wesley's  "  Deed  of  Declaration." 
— Wesley  Conferring  withCoke. — Ordinations  by  Wesley. — Wesley's 
Explanatory  Statements. — Evidence  of  his  Consistency. — First 
Meeting  of  Coke  and  Asbury. — Ordination  of  Asbury. — First  Dis- 
cipline of  the  Church. — Important  Provisions. — Liturgy  and  Doc- 
trinal Standards 225 

CHAP.  X. — From  hie  Ordi.vation  of  Asbury  to  the  Death  of 
Wesley. — The  Slave  Question. — Coke's  Difficulties. — Misunder- 
standings with  Wesley.— The  New  Name  of  the  Superintendents. — 
Vicissitudes.  — Methodism  Enters  New  Engl.and.— The  "  Council." 
—The  Bishops  to  the  President.- The  President  to  the  Bishops. — 
Controversies   and   Conversions. — Asbury  and   Sunday-schools. — 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

PAGE 

Wilberforce  and  John  Howard. — Wesley  as  a  Preacher. — His  Last 
Letter  to  the  United  States. — Results  of  his  Long  Life 249 

CHAP.  XL — Out  of  the  Old  Century  into  the  New. — 
O'Kelly's  Discomfiture. — Hammett  and  Meredith  Separate. — 
Methodism  Assailed  in  Connecticut. — Cokesbury  College  De- 
stroyed.— General  Conference  of  1796. — Losses  and  Gains. — Asbury 
Proposes  to  Resign. — Antislavery  Legislation. — Camp-meetings, 
Revivals,   Mobs 281 

CHAP.  XIL — Troublous  yet  Successful  Years. — Time  Limit 
for  the  Pastorate. — Aaron  Hunt's  Account. — Methodism  in  the 
British  Colonies. — Members  of  African  Descent. — Beginnings  of 
Race  Churches. — An  Untutored  Genius. — Fruits  of  the  Year 301 

CHAP.  XIIL — Introduction  of  Representative  Government. 
— Controversy  Concerning  Coke. — Coke  and  Bishop  White. — Rec- 
onciliation of  Coke  and  the  Conference. — Coke  and  the  Bishop  of 
London. — McKendree  Elected  Bishop. — Sketch  of  McKendree. — 
Proposals  for  a  Delegated  Conference. — Plan  for  a  Representative 
Body. — Debate,  Compromise,  and  Constitution. — Elections  and 
Regulations. — Religious  Influence  of  Conference 316 

CHAP.  XIV. — Evolution  under  a  Constitution. — Introduction 
of  New  Methods. — A  Vexed  Question  Reappears. — The  Death  of 
Coke. — The  Death  of  Asbury. — Rise  of  African  Churches. — Elec- 
tion of  Bishops  George  and  Roberts. — Axley's  Perseverance  Tri- 
umphs.— Debt  of  Methodists  to  Women. — General  Conference  of 
1820. — Constitutional  Controversies 338 

CHAP.  XV. — Critical  Discords  and  Comprehensive  Enter- 
prises.— Inconsistent  Legislation. — "  Zion's  Herald"  Founded. — 
Heresy  Trials. — Expulsions  and  Withdrawals. — The  Methodist 
Protestant  Church. — Canadian  Methodism. — Large  Numerical  In- 
crease.— Election  of  Andrew  and  Emory. — Seminaries  and  Colleges. 
— Tragic  Events. — Election  of  Three  Bishops. — Methodism  Planted 
in  Texas. — General  Conference  of  1840 35^ 

CHAP.  XVI. — The  "  Irrepressible  Conflict." — Activity  of  the 
Abolitionists. — Matlack's  Difificulties. — Methodist  Antislavery  Con- 
ventions.— Soule  versus  Sunderland. — Right  of  Negroes  to  Testify. 
— The  American  to  the  British  Conference. — Appeal  of  Daniel  Dor- 
chester.— Whittier's  Opinion  of  Scott. — Abolitionists  Seceding. — 
New  Phase  of  the  Controversy 3^5 

CHAP.  XVII. —Bisection  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
— Inundation  of  Antislavery  Petitions. — Appeal  of  Harding. — Case 
of  Bishop  Andrew  Opened. — Griffith's  Resolution. — Division  of  the 
Church  Predicted. — A  Startling  Supposition. — A  Peculiar  Expedi- 
ent.— Methodism   Defined. — New   England   Eulogized. — Hamline 


\iii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Explains  liis  Previous  Words. — Impassioned  Address  of  Andrew. 
— Finley  in  Defense  of  his  Resolution. — Winans  and  Cartwright. 
— Soule  on  the  Situation. — Durbin  and  Capers. — The  Bishops  Unite 
in  a  Communication. — The  Final  Vote. — The  Committee  of  Nine 
Constituted. — Protest  of  the  Southern  Delegates. — The  Bishops 
Ask  Instructions. — Plan  of  Committee  of  Nine. — Debating  the  Plan. 
— Contingent  Plan  for  Division  Adopted. — Reply  to  the  Protest. — 
After  Adjournment. — Organization  of  tlie  Church  South. — Its  First 
General  Conference. — Number  in  New  Organization 407 

CHAP.  XVIII.— A  Calm  Survey.— Olin's  Masterly  Analysis.- The 
Issues  Involved. — Irritating  Complications. — If? — Durbin's  Prof- 
fer of  Delay. — Henry  Clay's  Forebodings 464 

CHAP.  XIX. — Fro.m  tiik  Ecclesiastical  to  the  National  Crisis. 
— Janes  and  Hamline  Elected  Bishops. — Border  Warfare. — Over- 
tures Rejected. — Conference  of  1848  on  Disruption  of  Church. — 
Officers  Elected. — The  Churches  in  Litigation. — Hamline  Resigns 
from  the  Episcopacy. — Bishops  Elect. — A  Noble  Gift. — Ordination 
of  a  Bishop  for  Africa. — Daniel  Wise  Criticised. — Slavery  and  the 
Liquor  Traffic. — Origin  of  the  Free  Methodist  Church. — Establish- 
ment of  the  ' '  Methodist  " 477 

Chap.  XX. — The  Fratricidal  War  and  its  Sequels. — The  Eman- 
cipation Proclamation. — Important  Legislation. — The  Church  Ex- 
tension Society  Founded. — Thomson  and  Kingsley. — New  Bishop 
for  Liberia. — Centennial  of  American  Methodism. — First  General 
Conference  after  the  War. — Lay  Representation. — Board  of  Educa- 
tion Established. — Boston  and  Syracuse  Universities  Founded. — 
The  Book  Concern  Controversy. — A  Divided  Court 507 

Chap.  XXI. — Fraternal  Relations  and  their  Concomitants. — 
Prophecy  Fulfilled. — Settlement  of  Book  Concern  Troubles. — Eight 
New  Bishops. — Educational  Provision  for  Freedmen.--The  "  Color 
Line." — Revision  of  Hymn-book  Ordered. — A  Scene  of  Solemn 
Joy. — The  Cape  May  Commission. — Pillars  Falling. — Retirement 
of  Hitchcock.  —  First  Ecumenical  Conference 532 

Chap.  XXII. — Stability  amid  Change  and  Controversy. — 
Gammon  Theological  Seminary  Endowed. — Missionary  Bishop  for 
Africa  Elected. — Centennial  of  American  Methodism. — Compre- 
hensive Program. — Typical  Lay  Philanthropists. — Eligil)ility  of 
Women  to  Membership. — Pastoral  Term  Extended. — Ordination  of 
Six  Bishops. — Second  Methodist  Ecumenical  Conference. — Per- 
plexing Legislation. — A  Grave  Issue. — Delicate  Questions. — New 
General  Officers. — Suggestive  Commendation 554 

Chap.  XXIII. — Other  Branches  of  the  Common  Root. — Afri- 
can Methodist  Episcopal  Church,— Wilberforce  University. — Ex- 


CONTENTS.  ix 


PAGE 


traordinary  Educational  Progress. — African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Church. — Spreading  in  the  South. — Eloquence  of  Price. — 
Continued  Prosperity. — A  Friendly  Separation. — The  Methodist 
Protestant  Church. — Slavery  a  Disturbing  Factor.— A  Transient 
Organization. — Reunion. — Eminent  Representatives. — Wesleyan 
Methodist  Connection. — Earlier  History. — The  Primitive  Metho- 
dists.— The  Free  Methodist  Church 582 

Chap.  XXIV. — Salient  Points  in  the  Progress  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  South. — Second  General  Conference. 
— Election  of  Pierce,  Early,  and  Kavanaugh. — Proposed  Improve- 
ments.— Expunging  General  Rule  on  Slavery. — A  Question  of 
Courtesy. — The  "  Horrid  Visage  of  War." — Attempt  to  Change 
Name  of  Church. — Radical  Alterations. — Fraternal  Interviews. — 
Difficulties  of  the  Book  Concern. — Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society. — Temperance  and  Divorce. — Not  "Organic  Union"  but 
Fraternity  Sought. — A  Great  Gift. — Missions  and  Beneficence. — 
Death  of  Bishop  Haygood    617 

Chap.  XXV. — Propagandism,  Culture,  and  Philanthropy  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. — Durbinas  Missionary  Secretary. 
— Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society. — Woman's  Home  Mission- 
ary Society. — Church  Extension  Society. — The  Press. — Educational 
Work  in  the  South. — Board  of  Education. — Colleges  and  Univer- 
sities.— Other  Institutions  of  High  Grade. — The  Newest  Enter- 
prises.— The  Chautauqua  Movement. — The  Epworth  League. — 
Deaconesses. — Homes  and  Asylums. — Hospitals 650 

Chap.  XXVI. — Achievements  and  Outlook. — Interdenominational 

Reciprocity.  — The  Past  and  the  Present 682 

Appendix  I.— General  Rules  of  the  United  Societies 687 

Appendix  II.— Report  of  the  Committee  Relative  to  the  Regu- 
lating AND    Perpetuating  General  Conferences   in   the 

General  Conference  of  1808 691 

Appendix  HI.— Report  of  the  "  Committee  of  Nine" 693 

Appendix  IV.— Educational  Institutions  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church 698 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


The  following  catalogue,  arranged  alphabetically  under  authors'  names, 
includes  but  a  minority  of  the  volumes  consulted  in  the  preparation  of  this 
work.  In  some  instances  they  have  been  published  in  various  editions  and 
by  several  publishers.  Next  to  the  official  journals  and  other  documents  of 
the  different  denominations,  the  most  important  authorities  are  the  personal 
journals  of  Wesley,  Coke,  Asbury,  Garrettson,  and  other  founders ;  the  his- 
tories of  Jesse  Lee,  Nathan  Bangs,  and  Abel  Stevens,  in  particular  the  last- 
named,  whose  works  are  invaluable  and  deserve  the  everlasting  gratitude  of 
both  English  and  American  Methodism.  Bond,  Emory,  and  Wakeley  ren- 
dered valuable  service ;  and  Neely  and  Tigert  pursued,  in  the  order  of  time 
in  which  their  names  are  placed,  important  investigations  into  the  subjects 
comprehended  under  the  titles  of  their  works,  and  displayed  the  results  in 
a  clear  and  comprehensive  manner. 

"  The  Wesley  Memorial  Volume,"  edited  by  Clark,  and  the  "  Lives  of 
Methodist  Bishops,"  edited  by  Flood  and  Hamilton,  are  very  useful,  the 
latter  containing  an  immense  amount  of  information  in  small  compass. 

The  special  histories  of  the  various  branches  of  American  Methodism,  and 
the  biographies  of  their  founders,  are  indispensable. 

Among  the  biographies  none  surpasses  Paine's  "  Life  of  McKendree," 
which  is  a  mine  of  antiquarian  knowledge  and  a  repository  of  the  writings 
of  McKendree,  Soule,  and  other  controlling  minds  among  those  who  gave 
Methodism  its  final  forms. 

The  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,"  by  Gross 
Alexander,  treats  many  interesting  phases  of  the  life  and  growth  of  that 
body,  and  afforded  aid  in  investigations  required  by  the  plan  of  this  work. 
The  works  of  Lucius  C.  Matlack  on  the  slavery  controversy  admirably  fill  a 
place  occupied  by  no  other  productions. 

The  reports  of  different  oiganizations,  the  minutes  of  Annual  Conferences, 
the  "  Methodist  Magazine,"  the  reviews,  and  the  files  of  the  weekly  period- 
icals of  American  Methodism  have  been  searched,  and  a  large  mass  of  unpub- 
lished epistolary  correspondence  and  other  manuscript  examined.  It  is  be- 
lieved that  the  bibliography  here  given  will  afford  sufficient  indication  to 
those  who  may  desire  to  examine  authorities. 


xii  HIBLIOGRAFHY. 

Alexander,  Gross,  "DSD.,  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

\(il.  \i.,    American  Church  History  Series. 
Asbury,  Francis,  Journal.     3  vols.     New  York,  Lane  &  Scott. 
Atkinson,  John,  D.D.,    The  Beginnings  of  the   IVesleyan  Mffi'ement  in 

America  ami  the  Establishment  Therein  of  Methodism.    New  York,  Hunt 

&  E.iton,  1884. 
,  Centennial  ffistorv  of  American  Methodism.     New  York,  Phillips 

&  Hunt,  1S84. 
Baker,  Osmon  C.,  D.D.,  ./  Guide-booh  in  the  Administration  of  the  Dis- 
cipline of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.     New  York,  1878. 
Bangs,  Nathan,  D.D.,  A  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Twelfth  edition,  revised  and  corrected.      4  vols.      New  York,  Carlton  & 

Porter,  1832. 
,  Life  of  the  Kci'.  Freeborn  Garrettson,  Compiled  from  his  Printed  and 

Manuscript  Journals  ajul  other  Authentic  Documents.      Fifth  edition. 

New  York,  Carlton  &  Porter,  1832. 
Bascom,  Bishop  H.  B.,  Methodism  and  Slavery. 
,  Appeal  of  ilic  .Southern  Commissioners.      Nashville,  Tenn.,  Soutliern 

Methodist  Publication  House,  1846. 
Bassett,  Ancel  H.,  D.D.,  A  Concise  History  of  the  Methodist  Protestant 

Church.      Pittsburg  and  Baltimore,  1882. 
Bond,   Thomas  E.,  D.D.,   Economy  of  Methodism   Illustrated  and  De- 
fended. 

,  Appeal  to  Methodists. 

Briggs,    F.   W.,    Bishop  Asbury:    A    Biographical   Study  for  Christian 

ll'orko's.     Third  edition.      London. 
Carroll,  H.  K.,  LL.D.,  Religious  Forces  of  the  United  States.     Revised. 

New  York,  Christian  Literature  Co.,  1896. 
Carroll,  John,  Case  and  his  Contemporaries.     4  vols.     Toronto,  1871. 
Cartwright,  Peter,  D.D.,  Autobiography. 
Clark,  D.   W.,  D.D.,   Life  and   Times  of  Pec:   Elijah  Hedding,  D.D. 

New  York,  Carlton  &  Phillips,  1855. 
Clark,   J.    O.   A.,    D.D.,    7he    Wesley   Memorial    Volume.     New   York, 

1880. 
Cooper,  Ezekiel,   The  Substance  of  a  Funeral  Discourse  Delivered  in  St. 

George's    Church,    /Philadelphia,    on    the    Death    of   Francis    Asbury. 

Philadelphia,  Jonathan  Pounder,  1819. 
Cornish,  Rev.  George  H.,  Cyclopedia  of  Methodism  in  Canada.    Toronto 

and  Halifax,  1881. 
Crooks,  George  B.,  D.D.,  Life  and  Letters  of  the  Rev.  John  McClintock, 

LL.D.      1876. 
,  Life  of  Bishop  Mattheio  Simpson,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Harper  &  Brothers,  1890. 
Crowther,  Jonathan,  Portrait  of  Methodism. 
Curry,  Daniel,  D.D.,  Life  of  {Bishop']  Davis  IV.  Clark. 
Curtiss,  George  L.,  M.D.,"D.D.,  Manual  of  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

History.      New  N'ork,  Hunt  &  Eaton,  1893. 
Daniels,  W.  H. ,  A.  M. ,  The  Illustrated  Histo7y  of  Methodism.    New  York, 

Phillii)s  .S;  Hunt,  1S80. 
Deems,  Charles  F.,  D.D.,  Annals  of  Southern  Methodism. 
Dorchester,  Daniel,  D.D.,    The  Problem  of  Religious  Progress.     New 

York,  Hunt  &  Eatun,  1895. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY.  Xlll 

Dorchester,  Daniel,  D.D.,  Christianity  in  the  United  States.  New  York, 
Hunt  &  Eaton,  1895. 

Dow,  Lorenzo,  Journal.     Pittsburg,  1849. 

Drew,  Samuel,  The  Life  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Coke,  LL.D.  New  York, 
J.  Soule  &  T.  Mason,  18 18. 

Elliott,  Charles,  D.D.,  History  of  the  Great  Secession  from  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.      Cincinnati,  1854. 

,  Life  of  Bishop  Roberts. 

Emory,  Robert,  History  of  the  Discipline  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Revised  and  brought  down  to  1856  by  W.  P.  Strickland.  New  York, 
Carlton  &  Porter. 

,  A  Defense  of ' '  Our  Fathers,''''  and  of  the  Original  Organization  of  the 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church.     New  York,  Carlton  &  Porter. 

Etheridge,  J.  W.,  Life  of  Dr.  Coke.      i860. 

Ffirth,  John,  7'he  Experience  and  Gospel  Labors  of  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Ab- 
bott.     Philadelphia,  1825. 

Flood,  Theodore  L.,  and  John  W.  Hamilton  (editors),  Lives  of  Meth- 
odist Bishops.      New  York,  Phillips  &  Hunt,  1882. 

Hamline,  Bishop  Ii.  "Li..^  Sermons  and  Miscellaneous  Works. 

Harris,  Bishop  William  L.,  The  Constitutional  Powers  of  the  General 
Conference,  with  Special  Application  to  the  Subject  of  Slave-holding. 
Cincinnati,  i860. 

Henkle,  M.  M.,  Primary  Platform  of  Methodism. 

Hibbard,  F.  G.,  D.D.,  Biography  of  Rev.  Leonidas  L.  Hamline,  D.D. 
New  York,  Phillips  &  Hunt,  1880. 

Hood,  Bishop  J,  W.,  D.D.,  One  Hundred  Years  of  the  African  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Zion  Church.     New  York,  1895. 

Hurst,  John  Fletcher,  D.D.,  A  Short  History  of  the  Christian  Chzirch. 

John,  I.  G.,  Handbook  of  Methodist  Missions. 

Lednum,  John,  History  of  the  Rise  and  Progi-ess  of  Methodism  in  America. 
1859. 

Lee,  Jesse,  A  Short  History  of  the  Methodists  in  the  United  States  of  A/ner- 
ica.     Baltimore,  1810. 

Lee,  Leroy  M.,  D.D.,  Life  of  Jesse  Lee. 

Lee,  Luther,  Autobiography.      New  York,  Phillips  &  Hunt,  1882. 

McCaine,  Alexander,  History  and  Alystery  of  Methodist  Episcopacy. 

McTyeire,  Bishop  Holland  N.,  D.D.,  A  History  of  Methodism.  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.,  Southern  Methodist  Publication  House,  1884. 

,  Manual  of  Discipline  of  the  Alethodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

Martin,  Joel,  The  IVesleyan  Manual;  or,  History  of  Wesleyan  Methodism. 
Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  Wesleyan  Methodist  Publication  House,  1889. 

Matlack,  Lucius  C,  The  Antislavery  Struggle  and  Triumph  in  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church.     New  York,  Phillips  &  Hunt,  1881. 

,   The  History  of  American  Slavery  and  Methodism  from  lySo  to  i84g, 

and  History  of  the  Wesleyan   Connection  Qf  America.     2  parts.      New 
York,  1849. 

Merrill,  Bishop  Stephen  Mason,  A  Digest  of  Methodist  Law.  Revised 
in  1888.     Cincinnati,  Cranston  &  Stowe;  New  York,  Hunt  &  Eaton. 

Moore,  H.,  Life  of  John  Wesley,  M.A.     1792. 

Neely,  Thomas  B.,  D.D.,  A  History  of  the  Origin  and  Development  of 
the  Governing  Conference  in  Methodism.  Cincinnati  and  New  York, 
1892. 


X  i  V  BIBLIOGKA  PH  Y. 

Neely,  Thomas  B.,  D.D.,    The  Evolution  of  Episcopacy  and   Organic 

Mrt/toiiism.      New  York,  Phillips  &  Hunt,  l888. 
Overton,  J.  H.,  M.A.,  John  IVcs/cy.     Boston  and  New  York,  Houghton, 

Mifllin  &  Co.,  i8yi. 
Paine,  Bishop  Robert,  D.D.,  Life  nnU  Times  of  William  McKendree. 

2  vols.      Nashville,  Tenn.,  1874. 
Payne,  Daniel  A.,    D,D.,    LL.D.,    History  of  the  African   Methodist 

Episcopal  Church.     Nashville,  Tenn.,  Publication  House  of  the  African 

Methodist  Episcopal  Sunday-school  Union,  1891. 
Phoebus,   George  A.,  D.D.,  Beams  of  Light  on  Early  Methodism   in 

America.     New  York,  Phillips  &  Hunt;   Cincinnati,  Cranston  &  Stowe, 

1887. 
Porter,  James,  D.D.,  A  Competidium  of  Methodism.     Boston,  1851. 
,  A  Comprehensive  History  of  Methodism.     I  vol.    New  York,  Phillips 

&  II unt ;  Cincinnati,  Walden  &  Stowe. 
Redford,  A.   H.,  D.D.,   History  of  the    Organization    of  the  Methodist 

Episcopal  Church,  South.     1871. 
Reid,   J.   M.,   D.D.,   Missions  and  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist 

Episcopal  Church.      Revised  and  extended  by  J.  T.  Gracey,  D.D.     New 

York,  Hunt  &  Eaton;   Cincinnati,  Cranston  &  Curts,  1895. 
Rigg,  James  H.,  D.D.,   The  Churchmanship  (f  John  Wesley.      London. 

,  The  Living  Wesley,  as  He  Was  in  his  Youth  and  in  his  Prime.    1875. 

Ryerson,  Egerton,  LL.D.,  Canadian  Methodism  :  Its  Epochs  and  Char- 
acteristics.    Toronto,  1882. 
Scudder,  M.  L.,  D.D.,  American  Methodism.     Hartford,  Conn.,   S.  S. 

Scranton  &  Co.,  1868. 
Sherman,  David,  D.D.,  History  of  the  Revisions  of  the  Discipline  of  the 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church.    Third  edition.    New  York,  Hunt  &  Eaton  ; 

Cincinnati,  Cranston  &  Stowe,  1890. 

,  Llistory  of  Wilbraham  Academy.      Boston,  1893. 

Simpson,    Matthew,    D.D.,    Cyclopedia    of   Methodism.     Philadelphia, 

Everts  &  Stewart,  1878. 

,  One  Hundred  Years  of  Methodisf?i. 

Smith,  Dr.  George,  Llistory  of  ]Vesleyan  Methodism. 

Smith,  George  G.,  A.M.,  The  Life  and  Letters  of  James  Osgood  Afidrew. 

Nashville,  Tenn.,  Southern  Methodist  Publication  House,  1882. 
Smith,  T.  "Watson,  History  of  the  Methodist  Church  of  Eastern  British 

America.      Halifax,  1877. 
Southey,  Robert,  LL.D.,  The  Life  of  Wesley,  and  Rise  and  Progress  of 

Methodism.      Edited    by  the   Rev.    Charles    Cuthbert    Southey,    M.A. 

Second  American  edition,  with  notes  by  the  Rev.  Daniel  Curry,  M.A. 

2  vols.      New  York,  Harper  &  Brothers,  1847. 
Sprague,  William  B.,  D.D.,  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit.     Vol.  viii. 
Stevens,  Abel,  LL.D.,   History  of  Methodism.      3   vols.      New  York, 

Carlton  &  Porter,  1858. 
,  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.     New  York,  Carlton  & 

Porter,  1864. 
-,  Life  and   Times  of  Nathan  Bangs,   D.D.     New  York,   Carlton  & 


Porter,  1863. 

J'he  Centenary  of  American  Methodism.      New  York,  1866. 


Stevenson,  Edward,  D.D.,  Sketch  of  Valentine  Cook.     Nashville,  Tenn., 
1858. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY.  XV 

Stevenson,  G-eorge  James,  M.A.,  Meinorials  of  the  Wesley  Family. 

Strickland,  W.  P.,  The  Bioneer  Bishop;  or,  Life  and  Times  of  Francis 
Asbury.     New  York,  1858. 

Taylor,  Isaac,  Wesley  and  Methodism.     Harper  &  Brothers,  i860. 

Thrall,  Homer  S.,  History  of  Methodism  in  Texas.      Houston,  1872. 

Tigert,  John  J.,  D.D.,  A  Constitutional  History  of  American  Episcopal 
Methodism.  Nashville,  Tenn.,  Southern  Methodist  Publication  House, 
1894. 

Tyerman,  L.,  The  Life  and  Times  of  the  Rev.  John  Wesley,  M.A.,  the 
Founder  of  the  Methodists.      3  vols.      London,  Hodder  &  Stoughton. 

,  The  Life  and  Times  of  the  Rez'.  Samuel  Wesley,  AI.A.,  Rector  of 

Epivorth.      Simpkin,  Marshall  &  Co.,  1866. 

Urlin,  R.  Denny,  John  IFesley^s  Place  in  Church  History.  London,  Ox- 
ford, and  Cambridge,   1870. 

Wakeley,  J.  B.,  D.D.,  Lost  Chapters  Recovered  from  the  Early  History  of 
American  Methodism.     New  York,  Wilbur  B.  Ketcham. 

Ware,  Thomas,  Sketches  of  his  o^vn  Life  and  Travels.     New  York,  1839. 

Watson,  Biichard,  Life  of  John  Wesley.  American  edition,  with  transla- 
tions and  notes  by  John  Emory.     New  York,  1857. 

Whitehead,  John,  M.D.,  Lives  of  the  Wesleys.  London,  1793;  Auburn 
and  Buffalo,  1844. 

Miscellaneous. 

Catalogues  of  educational  and  reports  of  denominational  philanthropic  insti- 
tutions. 
Discipline  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Discipline  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
Discipline  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Connection  {or  Church)  in  America. 
Discipline  of  the  Free  Methodist  Church. 
Discipline  of  the  Alethodist  Protestant  Church. 
Discipline  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Discipline  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church. 
Discipline  of  the  Union  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Discipline  of  the  African  Union  First  Colored  Alethodist  Protestant  Church. 
Handbook  of  Church  Govern >nent,  Colored  Alethodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Journals  of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Alethodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Journals  of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Sottth. 
Journals  of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Colored  Alethodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Minutes  of  the  Annual  Conferences. 
Proceedings  of  the  Coitennial  Methodist  Conference. 
Proceedings  of  the  First  Ecumenical  Confere7ice,  1881. 
Proceedings  of  the  Second  Ecumenical  Conference,  i8gi. 


PRELIMINARY. 


The  purpose  of  this  volume  is  to  distinguish  Methodism 
from  other  forms  of  Protestant  Christianity  in  the  United 
States ;  to  trace  its  origin  and  follow  its  development,  ex- 
plain the  modifications  which  it  has  undergone,  and  to 
perform  these  functions  for  the  different  denominations 
into  which,  in  the  course  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  years, 
it  has  divided.  To  do  these  things  fully  would  expand 
the  work  to  the  dimensions  of  a  library.  Yet  if  events  be 
selected  with  judgment,  condensed  with  rigor,  and  un- 
folded in  proper  order,  the  result  may  be  a  portraiture 
sufficiently  exact  to  enable  those  who  are  to  derive  their 
knowledge  of  Methodism  therefrom  to  recognize  the  dif- 
ferent religious  physiognomies  delineated,  and  to  suggest 
to  such  as  desire  more  extended  study  the  routes  of  in- 
vestigation which  should  be  pursued. 

There  are  peculiar  difficulties.  In  the  earHest  docu- 
ments dates  are  often  omitted,  sometimes  incorrectly  re- 
corded, and  in  other  cases  the  same  event  is  by  different 
authors  assigned  to  various  dates.  The  orthography  of 
names  is  even  more  uncertain.  Reports  of  important 
proceedings  are  frequently  partial,  and  occasionally  in 
legislative  enactments  phrases  are  omitted  or  transposed 
so  as  to  obscure  or  modify  the  sense. 

What,  however,  has  been  ascertained  is  herein  affirma- 
tively stated;  what  is  doubtful  is  so  represented.  The 
most  important  facts,  after  almost  incredible  pains,  have 
been  authenticated. 

The  scale  of  the  work  will  not  admit  of  giving  all  the 


xviii  PRELIMINARY. 

authorities,  but  in  seriously  controverted  points  depending 
upon  a  limited  number  of  witnesses  they  are  stated. 

Comparatively  few  local  details  of  the  last  eighty  years 
are  given.  The  history  of  Conferences,  as  of  States,  must 
be  left  to  specialists.  Yet  such  acts,  however  limited  in 
origin,  which  affected  the  movements  or  spirit  of  one  or 
more  of  the  branches  of  the  tree  whose  growth  is  described 
are  recorded. 

Methodism  from  the  beginning  evoked  antagonisms, 
and  until  nearly  a  hundred  years  had  passed  was  never 
free  from  controversy  with  conscientious  opponents.  It 
is  not  within  the  province  of  the  historian  of  his  own  com- 
munion, and  in  part  of  his  own  time,  to  pronounce  judg- 
ment upon  the  motives  of  those  professing  "  like  precious 
faith."  But  it  is  his  duty  to  display  their  words  and 
actions,  and  the  utterances  and  deeds  of  those  who  antag- 
onized them,  so  far  as  possible  as  they  would  present 
them.  These,  with  the  results  of  the  conflict,  will  enable 
those  who  read  to  estimate  the  relation  of  events  to  human 
and  divine  providence — the  factors  in  the  development  of 
every  form  of  Christianity. 

If  what  is  called  history  be  untrue,  it  is  a  romance  far 
more  dangerous  than  an  avowed  work  of  fiction.  Either 
ignoring  pertinent  facts  or  emphasizing  them  unduly  may 
give  to  a  truthful  form  of  words  the  effect  of  falsity. 

Methodism  is  highly  organized,  and  organization  implies 
human  centers  of  power.  Hence  the  characteristics  and 
work  of  individual  men  occupy  a  large  place.  The  his- 
tory of  the  body  is  but  the  history  of  those  who  have 
made  it  what  it  is.  This  is  especially  true  of  churches 
episcopally  governed,  the  bishops  being  invested  with 
the  power  of  stationing  and  removing  pastors  of  churches, 
and  also  being  ex  officio  presiding  officers  in  the  General 
and    Annual   Conferences.     As   the   General   Conference 


PRELIMINARY.  XIX 

unites  the  legislative,  judicial,  and  executive  prerogatives 
in  one  body,  it,  more  than  the  ruling  assemblies  of  most 
other  denominations,  demands  a  thorough  treatment. 

The  most  potent  forces  which  account  for  the  numeri- 
cal increase  of  Methodism,  the  mutual  labors  of  pastors 
and  people  in  the  local  societies,  are  incapable  of  historic 
description.  Yet  without  them  the  visible  fabric  of  Metho- 
dism would  be  as  the  log  hut  in  which  the  fathers  preached 
compared  with  the  elaborate  ecclesiastical  structures  which 
prosperity  has  made  possible. 

Many  a  minister,  brilliant  in  intellect,  the  luster  of 
whose  piety  gave  a  mellow  light  to  the  coruscations  of 
his  genius,  has  left  no  visible  trace  which  the  earthly  his- 
torian can  reproduce.  Some  of  these  were  from  other 
countries,  attracted  to  America  by  the  more  rapid  growth 
of  Methodism  in  this  free  land. 

Such  was  John  Summerfield,  a  native  of  England,  a  star 
of  purest  ray,  who  for  five  years  drew  all  eyes  to  Metho- 
dism by  his  preaching  and  platform  addresses  in  behalf  of 
the  Missionary  Society,  the  American  Bible  Society,  and 
the  American  Tract  Society.  Yet  he  was  but  twenty- 
seven  years  of  age  when  his  vital  force  was  exhausted  and 
his  fervent  spirit  set  free. 

The  succeeding  pages  will  be  scanned  in  vain  for  the 
biographies  of  many  such  men.  The  record  of  their  im- 
passioned discourses,  their  private  appeals,  their  prayers 
beside  those  who  lay  on  sick-beds,  their  words  of  hope, 
consolation,  or  admonition  as  they  stood  between  the  liv- 
ing and  the  dead,  is  in  the  books  that  shall  be  opened  at 
the  last  day.^ 

1  It  will  be  observed  that  academic  and  honorary  titles  are  conspicuous  by 
their  absence.  The  limits  would  not  permit  their  frequent  recurrence ;  in 
most  instances  the  names  are  so  well  known  as  to  make  titles  superfluous  ; 
and  in  some  cases  neither  the  exact  degree  nor  the  name  of  the  institution 
conferring  it  could  be  ascertained. 


THE    METHODISTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE    FATHERLAND    OF    METHODISM. 

Methodism  did  not  originate  in  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere. It  was  transported  across  the  sea,  planted  in  a 
fertile  soil,  and  brought  forth  fruit  after  its  own  kind. 
Montesquieu  asserts  that  "  in  the  infancy  of  societies  the 
chiefs  of  the  state  form  the  institutions ;  afterward  the  in- 
stitutions form  the  chiefs  of  the  state."  ^ 

Among  the  founders  of  Methodism  one  name  is  preemi- 
nent. Others  either  derived  their  impulse  from  his  perse- 
vering and  victorious  zeal,  or  submitted  to  his  direction  ;  so 
that  it  may  be  said,  with  no  detriment  co  their  fame,  that 
without  him  Methodism  had  not  been.  Emerson  discerned 
and  recognized  this  in  saying:  "An  institution  is  the 
lengthened  shadow  of  one  man :  as  monachism,  of  the 
Hermit  Anthony ;  the  Reformation,  of  Luther ;  Quaker- 
ism, of  Fox  ;  Methodism,  of  Wesley  ;  abolition,  of  Clarkson. 
Scipio,  Milton  called  '  the  height  of  Rome  ' ;  and  all  history 
resolves  itself  very  easily  into  the  biography  of  a  few  stout 
and  earnest  persons." 

1  "  Grandeur  and  Decadence  of  the  Romans,"  Baker's  translation,  chap, 
i.,  p.  21. 

I 


2  THE  MET/IODTSTS.  [Chap.  i. 

It  is  proposed,  therefore,  in  accounting  for  the  springing 
of  American  Methodism  fully  fledged  from  the  brain  and 
heart  of  Robert  Strawbridge  and  Philip  Embury,  to  show 
what  formed  the  moral  and  intellectual  personality  of  John 
Wesley,  and  how  he  formed  Methodism. 

For  centuries  prior  to  the  sixteenth  the  state  of  religion 
and  morals  throughout  the  Christian  world  had  steadily 
deteriorated,  although  several  times  during  the  middle  ages 
the  minds  of  men  asserted  their  fundamental  rights  against 
the  corruption  of  Rome.  Little  knowledge  existed,  and 
that  was  chiefly  confined  to  the  clergy.  In  this  period 
"  not  one  man  in  five  hundred  could  have  spelled  his  way 
through  a  psalm.  Books  were  few  and  costly.  Copies  of 
the  Bible,  inferior  in  beauty  and  clearness  to  those  which 
every  cottager  may  now  command,  sold  for  prices  which 
many  priests  could  not  afford  to  give."  ' 

Every  archbishop  of  Canterbury  acknowledged  the 
papal  supremacy,  and  received  in  return  the  pallium,  the 
sign  of  authority  and  the  pledge  of  submission ;  and  all 
the  enactments  concerning  transubstantiation,  confession, 
indulgences,  and  the  primacy  of  the  pope,  with  the  con- 
demnation of  the  Albigenses  and  Waldenses,  were  accepted 
by  the  English  church,  whose  ambassador  was  present 
at  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council,  which  sat  in  12 15,  when 
Magna  Charta  was  signed.  All  the  great  orders  flourished 
in  England,  and  the  Mendicant  Friars,  the  Franciscans,  the 
Dominicans,  the  Carmelites — respectively  known  as  Gray, 
Black,  and  White  Friars — as  soon  as  established  migrated 
thither  successively. 

For  the  three  hundred  years  prior  to  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII.  England  "  had  been  the  tamest  part  of  Christendom 
to  the  papal  authority,  and  had  been  accordingly  dealt 
with.     But  though  the  Parliaments  and  two  or  three  high- 

1  Macaulay's  "  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  13. 


MEDIEVAL   ENGLISH  CHRLSTIANITY.  3 

spirited  kings  had  given  some  interruptions  to  the  cruel  ex- 
actions and  other  illegal  proceedings  of  the  court  of  Rome, 
yet  that  court  always  gained  their  designs  in  the  end."  ^ 

It  was  quite  common  in  those  days  for  men  who  had 
committed  the  worst  crimes  to  take  orders ;  for  then  not 
only  were  all  past  misdeeds  condoned,  but  they  could  not 
be  arrested  for  any  crime  committed  after  holy  orders  were 
given  until  they  had  been  degraded  ;  in  the  meantime  they 
were  the  bishop's  prisoners,  and  protected  against  the  civil 
law. 

As  the  people,  though  often  worse,  are  seldom  better 
than  the  clergy,  the  terrible  impeachment  of  the  former  by 
Wickliffe,  in  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  is  con- 
clusive as  to  the  general  condition. 

"They  haunt  taverns  out  of  measure,  and  stir  up  lay- 
men to  drunkenness,  idleness,  and  cursed  swearing,  cheat- 
ing, and  fighting.  For  they  will  not  follow  earnestly  in 
their  spiritual  office  after  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and  there- 
fore they  resort  to  plays  at  tables,  chess,  and  hazard,  and 
roar  in  the  streets,  and  sit  at  the  taverns  till  they  have 
lost  their  wits,  and  then  chide  and  strive,  and  fight  some- 
times. And  sometimes  they  have  neither  eye  nor  tongue 
nor  hand  nor  foot  to  help  themselves  for  drunkenness. 
By  this  example  the  ignorant  people  suppose  that  drunk- 
enness is  no  sin ;  but  he  that  wasteth  most  of  poor  men's 
goods  at  taverns,  making  himself  and  other  men  drunken, 
is  most  praised  for  nobleness,  courtesy,  freeness,  and 
worthiness."  ^ 

Henry,  second  son  of  Henry  VH.  and  his  queen,  Eliza- 
beth of  York,  was  born  at  Greenwich  in  1491.  In  April, 
1 509,  he  succeeded  his  father  on  the  throne,  and  two  months 
later  wedded  his  brother's  widow,  Catherine  of  Aragon. 

1  Burnet's  "  History  of  the  Reformation  in  England,"  vol.  i.,  bk.  i.,  p.  9. 

2  "  A  Book  about  the  Clergy,"  by  J.  C.  JeafTreson,  vol.  i.,  p.  47. 


4  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  i. 

During  his  reign  changes  were  made  the  effects  of  which 
upon  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  government  of  England 
and  its  dependencies,  upon  the  visible  forms  of  Christian- 
ity in  every  English-speaking  country,  and  upon  the  laws, 
institutions,  and  social  and  individual  life  of  their  peoples, 
continue  to  this  day. 

Until  his  twenty-ninth  year  he  was  devoted  to  the  pope 
and  eager  to  prove  his  loyalty  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  The  Reformation  was  progressing  rapidly  on 
the  Continent,  which  was  speedily  plunged  into  universal 
war.  Cardinal  Wolsey  attempted  the  impossible  double 
task  of  reforming  the  clergy  and  suppressing  the  religious 
revolution.  At  this  stage  arose  the  controversy  between 
Henry  VIII.  and  the  pope  concerning  his  relations  to 
Catherine.  His  father  had  had  doubts  of  the  legitimacy 
of  the  marriage,  and  a  foreign  court  had  made  objection 
to  intermarriage  with  the  children  of  Catherine ;  yet,  as 
there  were  no  male  heirs,  the  probability  of  a  disputed 
succession  in  the  event  of  his  death  agitated  the  people  of 
the  realm. 

In  1527  a  demand  for  a  declaration  that  the  marriage 
was  null  and  void  was  formally  laid  before  the  pope.  The 
temporizing  of  the  pontiff  irritated  the  king,  who  discarded 
Wolsey  as  not  being  sufficiently  zealous.  In  1529  a  Parlia- 
ment was  convened  which  took  important  and  far-reach- 
ing steps,  the  end  of  which  was  probably  not  foreseeiT. 

The  first  formal  step,  however,  toward  the  separation  of 
Henry  VIII.  from  the  Church  of  Rome  was  taken  in  1531, 
the  year  after  the  death  of  Wolsey,  when  the  attorney- 
general  filed  a  bill  against  the  whole  body  of  the  clergy,  as 
having  been  the  favorers  and  abettors  of  Wolsey  in  break- 
ing the  Act  of  Praemunire — an  act  intended  to  check  eva- 
sions of  existing  statutes  against  those  appointed  by  papal 
provision  to  English  benefices  or  dignities. 


REVOLT  OF  HENRY    VIII.  FROM   THE   POPE.  5 

The  Convocation  of  the  clergy  voted  a  large  sum  of 
money  to  the  king,  since,  if  this  charge  were  sustained, 
the  law  provided  that  those  who  had  violated  the  Act  of 
Praemunire  should  be  out  of  the  king's  protection,  their 
goods  and  chattels,  lands  and  attainments,  forfeited  to  the 
king,  and  their  persons  attached  wherever  found.  Henry, 
however,  refused  to  accept  the  money  unless  words  were 
inserted  in  the  preamble  to  the  effect  that  he  was  the  pro- 
tector and  head  of  the  church  and  clergy  of  England.  The 
latter  were  alarmed,  but  after  long  debate  consented  to 
yield  so  far  as  to  recognize  the  king  in  these  words : 
"  Chief  protector,  the  only  and  supreme  lord,  and  as  far 
as  the  lazv  of  Christ  zvill  allow,  the  supreme  head  of  the 
English  church  and  clergy." 

In  1532  Henry  VHI.  wedded  Anne  Boleyn,  and  in- 
stantly was  published  a  papal  threat  of  excommunication. 
Whereupon  the  English  Parliament,  at  the  instigation  of 
the  king,  passed  an  act  "  forbidding  appeals  from  English 
ecclesiastical  courts  to  Rome,"  and  Archbishop  Cranmer 
declared  the  marriage  of  Catherine  null  and  void. 

The  pope's  authority  in  England  was  annulled  in  1534, 
and  an  act  declared  Henry  VHI.  supreme  head  of  the 
church.  With  the  sanction  of  the  Convocation,  in  1536 
he  prescribed  the  doctrines  to  be  taught  in  the  churches. 
The  Scriptures  and  the  ancient  creeds  were  to  be  the  stand- 
ards of  faith  ;  the  traditions  or  decrees  of  the  church  were 
excluded  from  authority ;  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith  was  clearly  expressed;  four  of  the  seven  sacraments 
required  by  the  Church  of  Rome  were  omitted ;  purgatory 
was  spoken  of  in  a  doubtful  manner;  but  transubstantia- 
tion,  confession  to  priests,  and  the  worship  of  saints  and 
images  were  retained. 

In  1536  the  pope  prepared,  and  two  years  later  pub- 
lished, a  bull  of  deposition,  in  which  he  "  deprived  the  king 


6  THE   MF/J-IIODISTS.  [Ciiap.  i. 

of  liis  crown,  laid  the  kingdom  under  an  interdict,  declared 
his  issue  by  Anne  Boleyn  illegitimate,  dissolved  all  leagues 
which  any  Catholic  princes  had  made  with  him,  freed  his 
subjects  from  all  oaths  of  allegiance,  cut  ofT  their  commerce 
with  foreign  states,  and  declared  it  lawful  for  any  one  to 
seize  them,  to  make  slaves  of  their  persons,  and  to  con- 
vert their  effects  to  his  own  use."  ' 

But  waves  of  innovation  began  to  roar  and  beat  against 
the  church,  until  Henry  himself  was  affrighted.  In  the 
year  1539,  by  the  aid  of  influential  opposers  of  the  Refor- 
mation, he  succeeded  in  securing  the  passage  of  a  statute 
by  the  Commons,  approved  by  the  Lords,  making  it  a 
penal  offense  to  speak  against  any  one  of  the  Six  Arti- 
cles. The  first  of  these  affirms  transubstantiation ;  the 
second  that  "  communion  in  both  kinds,  bread  and  wine," 
is  not  necessary  to  salvation  to  all ;  third,  that  priests  after 
admission  to  orders  are  forbidden  by  the  law  of  God  to 
marry  ;  fourth,  that  vows  of  chastity  are  required  by  the  law 
of  God;  fifth,  that  private  masses  ought  to  be  continued; 
sixth,  that  auricular  confession  is  expedient  and  necessary, 
and  should  be  retained.  Under  this  statute,  which  was 
enforced  for  eight  years,  many  were  brought  to  the  stake 
and  to  prison. 

Toward  the  close  of  his  life  Henry  VHI.  was  much  dis- 
satisfied, and  in  proroguing  Parliament  in  person,  "  after 
thanking  them  for  their  loving  attention  to  him,  ...  he 
complained  of  their  dissensions,  disputes,  and  animosities 
in  religion.  He  told  them  that  the  pulpits  \\ere  become  a 
kind  of  battery  against  each  other  ;  that  one  preacher  called 
the  other  a  heretic  and  Anabaptist,  which  was  retaliated 
by  the  opprobrious  appellations  of  papist  and  hypocrite ; 
that  he  had  permitted  to  his  people  the  use  of  the  Scrip- 

1  Hume's  "  History  of  England,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  213;  quoted  l^y  Hume  from 
Saunders. 


ESTIMATE    OF  HIS  REIGN.  7 

tures,  not  to  furnish  them  with  materials  for  disputing  and 
railing,  but  that  he  might  enable  them  to  inform  their 
consciences  and  instruct  their  families ;  that  it  grieved  his 
heart  to  find  how  that  precious  gem  was  prostituted  by- 
being  introduced  into  the  conversation  of  every  ale-house 
and  tavern,  and  employed  as  a  pretense  for  decrying  the 
spiritual  and  legal  pastors ;  and  that  he  was  sorry  to  ob- 
serve that  the  Word  of  God,  while  it  was  the  object  of 
so  much  anxious  speculation,  had  very  little  influence  on 
their  practice ;  and  that  though  an  imaginary  knowledge 
so  much  abounded,  charity  was  daily  going  to  decay."  ^ 

As  his  health  failed  he  grew  more  severe.  He  promoted 
the  burning  of  Annie  Askew,  "  a  young  woman  of  merit 
as  well  as  beauty,"  closely  connected  with  the  queen  and 
many  of  the  chief  ladies  at  court,  at  the  same  time  with 
three  men,  one  of  whom  was  a  priest  of  his  own  house- 
hold, because  they  did  not  agree  with  his  views  of  the  real 
presence ;  and  the  queen  narrowly  escaped  the  same  fate. 
He  spent  his  declining  days  in  endeavoring  to  compass  the 
death  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  whose  execution  had  been 
ordered  for  the  morning  of  the  28th  of  January;  but  the 
king  died  the  previous  night. 

The  most  favorable  estimate  of  Henry  VHI.  is  given  by 
Hume,  who  says:  "  A  catalogue  of  his  vices  would  com- 
prehend many  of  the  worst  qualities  incident  to  human 
nature :  violence,  cruelty,  profusion,  rapacity,  injustice, 
obstinacy,  arrogance,  bigotry,  presumption,  caprice ;  but 
neither  was  he  subject  to  all  these  vices  in  the  most  ex- 
treme degree,  nor  was  he,  at  intervals,  altogether  destitute 
of  virtues ;  he  was  sincere,  open,  gallant,  liberal,  and  capa- 
ble of  at  least  a  temporary  friendship  and  attachment."^ 

Macaulay  comprehends  in  this  passage  his  view  of  the 

1  Hume's  "  History  of  England,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  298. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  309. 


8  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  i. 

purposes  of  the  king  with  regard  to  the  church:  "  Henry 
VIII.  attempted  to  constitute  an  Anghcan  church  differ- 
ing from  the  Roman  church  on  the  point  of  supremacy, 
and  on  that  point  alone.  .  .  .  [His  character,  position, 
and  supporters]  enabled  him  to  bid  defiance  to  both  the 
extreme  parties  ;  to  burn  as  heretics  those  who  avowed  the 
tenets  of  Luther,  and  hang  as  traitors  those  who  owned 
the  authority  of  the  pope."  ^ 

The  apologists  of  Henry  VIII.  are  reliable  witnesses  to 
the  general  corruption  of  the  age.  One  says  :  "  He  was  no 
hero,  no  ideal  man  or  king.  He  shared  fully  in  the  coarse- 
ness and  indelicacy  of  the  age."  The  reformation  accom- 
plished in  his  reign  was  superficial,  though  it  contained  the 
germs  of  something  better.  The  clergy  were  covetous, 
given  to  secular  affairs,  devoted  to  pleasures,  many  in- 
dulging in  licentiousness  which  they  scarcely  took  the  pains 
to  conceal ;  and  the  tendency  to  immorality  pervaded  all 
classes. 

When  Henry  VIII.  died,  his  only  son,  Edward,  whose 
mother  was  Jane  Seymour,  was  but  ten  years  of  age. 
Nominally  he  was  king  until  his  death  at  the  age  of  fif- 
teen and  a  half,  and  important  measures  marked  his  reign. 
His  uncle,  the  Earl  of  Hertford,  was  named  Protector  and 
-created  Duke  of  Somerset.  In  two  years  his  place  was 
taken  by  Dudley,  Earl  of  Warwick,  created  Duke  of  North- 
umberland, and  two  years  later  Somerset  was  beheaded 
under  charges  of  treason  and  felony. 

Both  these  protectors,  however,  carried  on  the  Reforma- 
tion. The  first  Book  of  Common  Prayer  was  authorized 
in  1549,  and  in  1552  the  second  appeared,  which  diverged 
much  more  widely  from  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine. 
These  were  substituted  for  the  missal  and  breviary.  Sev- 
eral bishops  rebelled  and  were  deprived  of  their  sees. 
1  Macaulay's  "  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  15. 


PI^:OGRESS   OF   THE  REFORMATION.  g 

Just  before  the  death  of  Edward  VI.  the  council  required 
bishops  to  remove  the  altars  from  all  parish  churches  in 
their  dioceses. 

While  the  boy  king  was  suffering  from  a  mortal  illness 
he  was  induced  by  the  intrigues  of  the  Duke  of  Northum- 
berland to  name  Lady  Jane  Grey  as  his  successor.  The 
cause  of  this  attempt  to  change  the  succession  was  that 
Mary,  the  daughter  of  Henry  VIII.  and  Catherine  of  Ara- 
gon — who  had  been  brought  up  in  the  Catholic  faith,  but 
after  the  execution  of  Queen  Anne  Boleyn  had  acknowl- 
edged her  father  as  head  of  the  church  in  England ;  con- 
fessed that  her  mother's  marriage  was  unlawful ;  and  yielded 
an  outward  conformity  to  the  successive  changes  in  religion 
during  Henry's  reign,  on  account  of  which  she  again  re- 
ceived her  father's  favor,  and  the  succession  was  restored 
to  her  by  act  of  Parliament — had,  during  the  reign  of  her 
brother,  Edward  VI.,  steadily  refused  conformity  to  the 
Protestant  religion. 

On  the  death  of  Edward  VI.  Lady  Jane  Grey  was  actu- 
ally proclaimed,  but  Mary  entered  London  in  triumph ;  and 
though  she  began  by  declaring  to  the  people  of  Suffolk 
that  she  would  never  change  the  laws  of  Edward  VI.,  she 
immediately  proceeded  to  undo  his  work;  put  Lady  Jane 
Grey  and  her  husband  to  death  on  the  charge  of  treason, 
liberated  the  imprisoned  Catholic  bishops,  and  shut  up  Col- 
gate, Archbishop  of  York,  Coverdale,  Bishop  of  Exeter, 
Ridley  of  London,  Hooper  of  Gloucester,  and  Latimer. 
Mary's  wrath  even  threatened  the  safety  of  Elizabeth,  her 
sister. 

The  mass,  though  contrary  to  law,  was  revived.  Cran- 
mer,  who  protested  against  the  mass,  and  declared  that 
those  who  asserted  that  he  approved  it  made  use  of  his 
name  falsely,  was  convicted  of  high  treason. 

Mary  then  sent  messages  to  Pope  Julius  III.  informing 


lO  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  i. 

liim  tliat  she  earnestly  desired  to  reconcile  herself  and  her 
kingdom  to  him,  and  asked  that  Cardinal  Pole  might  be 
made  legate  to  transact  the  business. 

The  Convocation  was  called  at  the  same  time  with  the 
Parliament.  The  Romanists  offered  to  dispute  the  points 
controverted  between  the  two  communions.  "  The  Prot- 
estants pushed  the  dispute  as  far  as  the  clamor  and  noise 
of  their  antagonists  would  permit ;  and  they  fondly  imag- 
ined that  they  had  obtained  some  advantage,  when,  in  the 
course  of  the  debate  (on  transubstantiation),  they  obliged 
the  Catholics  to  see  that  according  to  their  doctrine  Christ 
had  at  his  last  supper  held  himself  in  his  hand,  and  had 
sii'al lowed  and  eaten  Jiiniself."  ^ 

In  1554  Mary  married  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  and  blended 
the  remorseless,  inquisitorial,  persecuting  cruelty  of  the 
Spanish  spirit  with  her  own  fanatical  and  bloodthirsty  dis- 
position. When  Cardinal  Pole  arrived,  invested  by  the 
pope  with  powers  as  legate,  he  was  presented  to  the  king 
and  queen,  and  asked  the  Parliament  to  reconcile  itself 
and  the  kingdom  to  the  apostolic  see.  Both  houses,  in  an 
address  to  Philip  and  Mary,  acknowledged  that  they  had 
been  guilty  "  of  the  most  horrible  defection  from  the  true 
church,"  and  besought  their  Majesties  that,  "  since  they 
were  happily  unaffected  with  that  criminal  secession,  they 
would  intercede  with  the  holy  father  for  the  absolution  and 
forgiveness  of  their  penitent  subjects."  Cardinal  Pole,  in 
the  name  of  the  pope,  absolved  both  the  kingdom  and  Par- 
liament, offered  them  ever}-  cynosure,  and  recei\'ed  them 
into  the  church. 

Cardinal  Pole  opposed  persecution,  but  Mary  and  Philip 
preferred  the  arguments  of  Gardiner.  Then  began  scenes 
which  seem  to  prove  that  "  no  human  depravity  can  equal 

1  Collier,  vol.  ii.,  p.  356;  quoted  by  Hume,  "  History  of  England,"  vol.  iii., 
P-  399- 


ATTEMPT  OF  MARY   TO  REVISE  IT.  II 

revenge  and  cruelty  covered  with  the  mantle  of  religion," 
though  the  French  Revolution  subsequently  demonstrated 
that  hatred  of  religion  in  the  names  of  liberty,  equality, 
and  fraternity  might  perpetrate  still  darker  deeds. 

Systematic  persecution  began  with  the  burning  of  John 
Rogers,  prebendary  of  St.  Paul's,  and  followed  with  the  exe- 
cution of  Hooper,  Bishop  of  Gloucester;  Saunders,  burned 
at  Coventry  ;  Taylor,  parson  of  Hadley  ;  Philpot,  Archdea- 
con of  Winchester ;  Farrar,  Bishop  of  St.  David's,  burned 
in  his  own  diocese ;  Ridley,  Bishop  of  London,  formerly 
Bishop  of  Worcester,  burned  in  the  same  flames  with  Lati- 
mer at  Oxford.  The  persecuting,  spirit  of  Mary  became 
almost  a  delirium,  and  a  proclamation  was  issued  that  who- 
ever had  any  books  of  heresy,  etc.,  and  did  not  presently 
burn  them  without  reading  or  showing  them,  should  be 
esteemed  rebels,  and  without  further  delay  executed  by 
martial  law. 

The  persecution  of  Protestants  under  Mary  developed 
a  higher  degree  of  moral  courage  than  had  of  late  existed 
in  England.  The  lowest  estimate  of  the  number  of  those 
who  suffered  death  for  adherence  to  Protestantism  in  her 
reign  is  three  hundred.  A  high  Roman  Catholic  author- 
ity acknowledges  that  "  every  one  knows  with  how  great 
severity  Mary's  government  proceeded  against  the  Protest- 
ants— Cranmer,  Ridley,  Latimer,  and  many  others  being 
burned,  and  hundreds  forced  to  flee  for  their  lives  to 
foreign  countries."  ^  The  average  morality  of  the  king- 
dom during  her  reign  sank  still  lower  than  it  was  during 
the  reign  of  Henry  VHI. 

Upon  the  death  of  Mary,  Elizabeth,  who  had  narrowly 
escaped  with  her  life,  and  had  been  kept  in  close  confine- 
ment during  most  of  Mary's  reign,  ascended  the  throne, 
being  crowned   on  the    17th  of   November,    1558.     The 

^  "  A  Catholic  Dictionary,"  by  William  E.  Addis  and  Thomas  Arnold,  M.A. 


12  77/E   jUirJ7/On/STS.  [Chak  I. 

bishops  and  liigher  cleii^y  whom  Elizabeth  found  on  her 
accession  were  generally  stanch  Catholics ;  but  Elizabeth 
was  the  daughter  of  Anne  Boleyn,  and  two  popes  had  de- 
clared her  mother's  marriage  to  Henry  VIII.  null  and  void. 
She  was  under  strong  personal  temptation  to  ally  herself 
and  her  kingdom  with  Protestantism,  and  there  is  reason 
also  to  believe  that  she  was  sincerely  opposed  to  many  of 
the  Romish  doctrines. 

Men  of  eminence,  ability,  and  force  of  character  became 
associated  with  her,  and  reconstruction  began  at  once. 
Cardinal  Pole  being  dead,  the  Archbishop  of  York,  in  his 
capacity  as  chancellor,  held  the  seals,  and  these  were  at 
once  given  to  Bacon.  As  Mary  had  devoted  herself  to  the 
reestablishment  of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  and  worship, 
so  with  equal  zeal  Elizabeth  bent  her  energies  to  the  resto- 
ration of  the  Protestant  faith.  One  of  her  first  acts  was 
to  forbid  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle  to  elevate  the  host  while 
saying  mass,  thus  indicating  that  she  did  not  accept  the 
dogma  of  transubstantiation.  On  this  account  Archbishop 
Heath  refused  to  take  part  in  her  coronation,  and  only  one 
bishop  was  found  willing  to  participate. 

In  December  of  the  same  year  she  inhibited  all  preach- 
ing "for  the  present."  The  bishops,  however,  were  op- 
posed to  reformation.  The  court  secured  a  Parliament 
which  repealed  the  persecuting  laws  of  Mary  and  gave  the 
queen  all  power  to  regulate  doctrine,  discipline,  worship, 
to  appoint  all  bishops,  and  "  to  establish  high  commission 
courts  with  powers  nearly  equal  to  the  inquisition."  The 
second  Prayer-book  of  Edward  VI.  was  restored.  Parlia- 
ment having  adopted  Protestantism  as  the  religion  of  Eng- 
land, every  bishop,  witli  one  exception,  seceded  therefrom 
and  refused  the  oath.  That  one,  Kitchen,  Bishop  of  Lan- 
daff,  was  an  idle  abbot  under  Henry  VIII.,  Protestant 
under  Edward,  returned  to  Romanism  under  Mary,  and 


THE  PROTESTANTISM  OF  ELIZABETH.  13 

took  the  oath  of  supremacy  under  Elizabeth,  and  finished 
as  a  Parliament  Protestant.  Isaac  Disraeli,  in  "  Curiosities 
of  Literature,"  writes  that  "a  pun  spread  the  contumely 
of  his  name ;  for  they  said  that  he  had  always  loved  the 
Kitchen  better  than  the  church." 

It  was  during  these  changes  that  the  proverb  "  the  Vicar 
of  Bray  will  be  Vicar  of  Bray  still  "  originated.  For  the 
vicar  referred  to  was  a  papist  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIIL, 
Protestant  under  Edward  VI.,  again  papist  under  Mary, 
and  finally  a  Protestant  under  EHzabeth.  According  to 
Fuller,  when  he  was  accused  of  being  an  inconstant  change- 
ling, he  said  :  "  Not  so  neither;  for  if  I  changed  my  religion 
I  am  sure  I  kept  true  to  my  principle,  which  is  to  live  and 
die  the  Vicar  of  Bray." 

The  Convocation  of  1563  adopted  the  Thirty-nine  Arti- 
cles, which  had  been  prepared  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
reign  of  Edward  VI.  They  distinguish  the  doctrines  of 
the  Church  of  England  from  those  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
communion  by  introducing  the  Lutheran  doctrine  of  jus- 
tification by  f^ith  alone,  denying  purgatory  and  reducing 
the  sacraments  from  seven  to  two,  and  by  affirming  many 
anti-Roman  principles.  The  pope  issued  a  bull  deposing 
Elizabeth.  For  a  while  Catholics  who  did  not  leave  the 
country  went  to  church  with  Protestants,  taking  pains  not 
to  enter  or  leave  the  building  with  them,  expecting  that 
the  authority  of  the  pope  would  be  restored  ;  but  the  Coun- 
cil of  Trent  decided  such  attendance  at  Protestant  worship 
to  be  sinful. 

About  half  of  the  cathedral  clergy,  archdeacons,  and 
heads  of  colleges  refused  the  oath.  All  such  were  expelled, 
and  the  Protestants  ejected  under  Mary  were  recalled  to 
fill  the  vacant  positions.  Matthew  Parker,  formerly  a 
Catholic  priest,  who  in  the  time  of  Mary  had  married  and 
thus  been  compelled  to  go  into  obscurity,  was  now  made 


14  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  i. 

Archbisliop  of  Canterbury.  Elizabeth  appointed  bishops 
who  would  favor  the  Reformation,  and  summoned  to  con- 
secrate them  the  ex-bishops  who  had  been  removed  by 
Mary.  All  the  clergy  of  England,  except  about  two  hun- 
dred, obeyed  the  fifty-two  injunctions  that  Elizabeth  is- 
sued regulating  devotion,  discipline,  holy  days,  and  cler- 
ical duties. 

During  her  reign  Elizabeth  was  constantly  in  conflict 
with  the  adherents  of  the  Romish  system,  and  as  the  Puri- 
tan party  was  continually  growing  stronger,  she  was  bit- 
terly opposed  to  and  by  them.  Professor  Reid,  of  Glasgow, 
observes  concerning  this  phase  of  Elizabeth's  character  that 
she  was  "  fond  of  splendid  worship,  and  .  .  .  rigorously 
enforced  uniformity.  Thus  the  Reformation  was  arrested, 
and  the  Established  Church  has  remained  substantially  the 
same  as  in  the  year  1562."  ^ 

The  personal  character  and  moral  influence  of  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth  have  been  much  debated.  Protestants  have 
praised,  Romanists  condemned  her.  A  judicious  critic 
observes  that  recent  inquiries  have  resulted  in  a  less  favor- 
able view  than  has  prevailed  in  England.  Shakespeare, 
Bacon,  and  Spencer  flourished  in  her  reign,  which  was  also 
marked  by  great  enterprises  and  discoveries ;  but  under 
various  acts  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  priests  and 
members  of  religious  orders,  fifty-eight  laymen,  and  three 
women  were  put  to  death.  Such  a  succession  of  terrible 
deeds,  including  the  execution  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots, 
and  an  attachment  to  the  unworthy  Earls  of  Leicester  and 
Essex,  together  with  the  natural  tendency  of  such  transi- 
tions, was  compatible  with  only  a  slight  elevation,  if  any, 
in  the  conduct  and  spirit  of  the  people. 

James  I.  of  Scotland,  a  character  who  has  been  the  puz- 

•  "  Mosheiin's  Institutes  of  Ecclesiastical  History,"  l)y  James  Murdock, 
D.D.  ;   revised  and  supplemental  notes  added  liy  James  Seaton  Reid,  D.D. 


INCONSISTENCIES   OF  JAMES  I.  I  5 

zle  of  historians,  succeeded  Elizabeth.  He  was  educated 
among  the  Presbyterians,  and  from  the  General  Assem- 
bly in  1590 — where  he  thanked  God  that  he  was  king 
of  the  sincerest  kirk  in  the  world,  and  thus  addressed  the 
members :  "  I  charge  you,  my  ministers,  doctors,  elders, 
nobles,  gentlemen,  and  barons,  to  stand  to  your  purity  and 
to  exhort  your  people  to  do  the  same,  and  I  forsooth  as 
long  as  I  brook  my  life  shall  do  the  same  " — down  to  his 
removal  to  England  in  1603,  he  declared  himself  consci- 
entiously attached  to  that  church. 

When  he  began  his  journey  all  religious  parties  in  Eng- 
land paid  court  to  him  ;  the  Dutch  and  French  Protestants 
settled  in  the  country  waited  upon  him,  the  bishops  sent 
their  envoys,  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge 
appealed  to  him  in  behalf  of  the  Establishment,  and  the 
Puritans  sent  him  a  petition  signed  by  eight  hundred  of 
their  ministers. 

The  same  year  a  conference  was  held  between  the  Epis- 
copalians and  the  Puritans.  According  to  Neal,  the  former 
were  allowed  to  select  nine  bishops  and  as  many  digni- 
taries of  the  church  ;  on  the  part  of  the  Puritans  the  king 
selected  one  Scotch  and  four  English  divines.  It  proved  a 
mock  conference,  in  which  the  king  went  over  entirely  to  the 
Established  Church.  The  explanation  given  by  Mosheim  is 
this :  "  King  James,  who  was  eager  to  grasp  supreme  and 
unlimited  power,  at  once  judged  that  the  Presbyterian  form 
of  church  government  was  adverse  to  his  designs,  and  the 
Episcopal  favorable  to  them  ;  because  Presbyterian  churches 
form  a  kind  of  republic,  which  is  subject  to  a  number  of 
leading  men  all  possessing  equal  rank  and  power,  while 
Episcopal  churches  more  nearly  resemble  a  monarchy. 
The  very  name  of  a  republic,  synod,  or  council  was  odi- 
ous to  the  king,  and  he  therefore  studied  most  earnestly 
to  increase  the  power  of  the  bishops,  and  publicly  declared 


1 6  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai-.  i. 

that  without  bishops  the  throne  could  not  be  safe."  ^  But 
for  a  long  time  he  did  what  he  could  to  preserve  the  Gene- 
van doctrines. 

With  a  majority"  of  the"  clergy  he  afterward  inclined  to 
the  Arminian  doctrine  concerning  decrees,  and  before  his 
death  had  become  a  mortal  enemy  of  the  Puritan  faith. 
In  some  respects  he  strengthened  the  cause  of  Protestant- 
ism, especially  by  the  preparation  and  authorization  of  the 
translation  of  the  Bible ;  but  his  reign  promoted  neither 
piety  nor  morality. 

He  executed  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  under  circumstances 
which  proved  him  destitute  of  the  elements  of  true  nobil- 
ity. The  longer  he  lived  the  more  violent  became  his 
contests  with  Parliament.  He  was  superstitious  ;  in  minor 
matters  of  morals,  self-opinionated  and  autocratic,  and  in 
great  questions  lacked  breadth  and  dignity  ;  and  his  career 
closed  in  open  hostility  to  the  Presbyterians  and  with  the 
country  upon  the  verge  of  civil  war. 

Macaulay's  estimate  of  the  character  and  reign  of  Charles 
I.  is  discriminating:  "  He  had  received  from  nature  a  far 
better  understanding,  far  stronger  will,  and  a  far  keener  and 
firmer  temper  than  his  father's.  ...  It  would  be  unjust  to 
deny  that  Charles  had  some  of  the  qualities  of  a  good,  and 
even  of  a  great  prince.  .  .  .  His  taste  in  literature  and  art 
was  excellent,  his  manner  dignified  though  not  gracious,  his 
domestic  life  without  blemish.  Faithlessness  was  the  chief 
cause  of  his  disasters,  and  is  the  chief  stain  on  his  memory. 
He  was,  in  truth,  impelled  by  an  incurable  propensity  to 
dark  and  crooked  ways.  .  .  .  There  is  reason  to  believe 
that  he  was  perfidious,  not  only  from  constitution  and  from 
habit,  but  also  on  principle.  He  seems  to  have  learned 
from  the  theologians  whom  he  most  esteemed  that  between 
him  and  his  subjects  there  could  be  nothing  of  the  nature 

1  "  Mosheim's  Institutes  of  Ecclesiastical  History,"  seventh  edition,  p.  820. 


USURPATIONS   OF   CHARLES  I.  1 7 

of  mutual  contract ;  .  .  .  and  that  in  every  promise  which 
he  made  there  was  an  impHed  reservation  that  such  prom- 
ise might  be  broken  in  case  of  necessity,  and  that  of  the 
necessity  he  was  the  sole  judge*"  ^ 

The  Commons,  not  sympathizing  with  his  efforts  to  ex- 
tend the  regal  power  and  make  it  superior  to  the  laws,  to 
subject  the  whole  church  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  to 
an  episcopal  form  of  government,  or  to  reject  the  institu- 
tions and  doctrines  of  the  followers  of  Calvin,  determined 
to  place  the  king  in  a  position  where  he  would  be  obHged 
to  submit  to  their  wishes  or  attack  fundamental  principles 
of  the  British  constitution.  Religiously  he  was  a  zealous 
Episcopalian  and  a  decided  Arminian,  and  "  though  no 
papist,  he  liked  a  papist  much  better  than  a  Puritan." 

The  proceedings  of  Laud,  to  whom  the  execution  of  the 
designs  of  Charles  was  intrusted,  as  Bishop  of  London,  and 
subsequently  as  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  though  charac- 
terized by  ability,  were  fierce,  headlong,  and  inconsiderate. 

The  king  soon  decided  to  defy  the  law.  He  prorogued 
the  first  Parliament  and  on  his  own  authority  levied  taxes, 
convoked  a  second  Parliament  and  dissolved  it,  threw  his 
chief  opponents  into  prison,  billeted  soldiers  on  the  people, 
and  substituted  martial  for  civil  law.  The  third  Parliament 
proving  more  obstinate  than  its  predecessors,  he  tempor- 
ized by  making  promises  which  he  subsequently  disre- 
garded— as  he  intended  to  do  when  he  made  them — and 
attempted  to  make  himself  a  despot  by  reducing  the  Par- 
liament to  a  nullity.  From  March,  1629,  to  April,  1640, 
England  was  without  a  Parliament.  In  1644-45  Laud  was 
impeached  by  the  Commons,  tried  by  the  Lords,  found 
guilty,  and  beheaded.  This  Parliament,  principally  under 
the  control  of  Presbyterians  and  Independents,  abolished 
the  form  of  church  government  by  bishops,  and  repealed 
1  Macaulay's  "  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  24. 


1 8  THE   METHODISTS.  J  Chap.  i. 

whatever  was  contrary  to  the  principles  of  the  Calvinists 
as  represented  by  the  Genevans. 

After  the  brave  attempt  of  John  Hampden  to  stand  for 
personal  liberty  by  refusing  to  pay  the  illegal  shipping  tax, 
the  best  men  began  to  flee  the  kingdom.  During  the  war 
with  Scotland  the  two  parties — those  inclined  to  limit  the 
power  of  the  crown  more  and  more,  and  those  "  ready  to 
lay  all  the  laws  and  franchises  at  the  feet  of  the  kings  " — 
appeared  in  a  distinct  form,  though,  as  is  always  the  case, 
the  majority  of  each  were  more  or  less  conservative,  while 
the  enthusiasts  and  extremists  were  most  conspicuous. 
On  the  king's  side  were  the  larger  number  of  the  nobles, 
all  the  opulent  citizens  with  their  dependents,  the  great 
body  of  the  clergy,  and  the  Unionists,  all  laymen  of  the 
Anglican  faith.  These  had  allies  "  much  less  decorous 
than  themselves.  The  Puritan  austerity  drove  to  the  king's 
faction  all  who  made  pleasure  their  business,  who  affected 
gallantry,  splendor  of  dress,  or  taste  in  the  lighter  arts,"  and 
those  who  lived  by  amusing,  "  from  the  painter  and  comic 
poet  down  to  the  rope-dancer  and  the  merry-andrew." 

The  P2nglish  Roman  Catholics  to  a  man  espoused  the 
king's  side.  In  defending  this  the  Catholic  writers  declare 
that  they  had  no  alternative ;  they  could  expect  some 
justice  from  the  king,  but  none  from  the  Parliament.  The 
wife  of  Charles  was  a  daughter  of  France,  and  of  their  own 
faith. 

The  opposition  consisted  of  the  small  farmers,  merchants, 
and  shop-keepers,  a  powerful  minority  of  the  aristocracy 
— such  as  the  Earls  of  Northumberland,  Bedford,  Warwick, 
and  Essex — the  whole  body  of  Protestant  nonconformists, 
those  members  of  the  Established  Church  who  were  Cal- 
vinists, and  most  of  the  municipal  corporations. 

Upon  a  fair  view  of  Catholic,  Protestant,  and  critical  his- 
tory of  the  time  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that  the  reign 


PRESBYTERIANISM  AND    THE    COMMOXIVEALTH.      1 9 

of  Charles  I.  promoted  either  rehgion  or  morahty.  Al- 
though the  first  Presbyterian  church  was  estabHshed  in 
England  in  1572,  the  majority  of  the  English  clergy  who 
inclined  to  Presbyterian  views  did  not  withdraw  from  the 
Established  Church,  but  were  distinguished  by  the  gen- 
eral title  of  Puritans.  Persecution  drove  man}/  of  them  to 
the  New  World  and  to  various  parts  of  Europe ;  yet  the 
party  greatly  increased  during  the  reigns  of  James  I.  and 
Charles  I. 

Episcopacy  was  abolished  in  1642,  and  a  year  later  the 
famous  Westminster  Assembly  was  convened  by  Parlia- 
ment, which  commanded  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  of 
the  ablest  theologians,  with  thirty  lay  assessors,  to  assist 
it  in  settling  the  principles,  ritual,  and  government  of  the 
Church  of  England.  The  majority  were  Presbyterians; 
there  were  a  few  Episcopalians,  some  Independents,  and 
four  commissioners  from  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Scottish  church,  asking  the  Westminster  Assembly  and 
Parliament  to  make  a  solemn  league  and  covenant  to  es- 
tablish a  uniform  religion  throughout  the  three  kingdoms. 

Within  two  years  serious  difTerences  arose  between  the 
Assembly  and  Parliament.  The  English  Presbyterians  pro- 
posed to  establish  Presbyterianism  throughout  England, 
with  no  toleration  of  dissenters.  Supported  by  the  weight 
of  the  Scottish  nation,  they  sent  petitions  in  the  name  of  the 
lord  mayor,  aldermen,  and  Common  Council  of  London. 
This  divided  the  Commons,  as  the  Independents  and  other 
dissenters  sent  up  counter-petitions ;  and  the  debate  in 
the  Assembly  waxed  so  hot  that  the  Independents  and 
others  withdrew.  Extraordinary  resolutions  followed, 
and  the  country  divided  into  sects,  of  which  Edwards, 
a  contemporary  author,  mentions  fifteen :  Independents, 
Brownists,  Millinaries,  Antinomians,  Anabaptists,  Liber- 
tines, Familists,  Enthusiasts,   Seekers,  Perfectionists,  So- 


20  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  i. 

cinians,  Arians,  anti-Trinitarians,  anti-Scripturists,  and 
Skeptics. 

Notwithstanding  that  Cliarles  I.  was  a  prisoner,  he  re- 
fused to  consent  to  the  proposed  new  forms  of  government. 
Parliament  fell  under  the  control  of  the  army,  consisting 
principally  of  dissenters,  who  took  active  part  in  the  discus- 
sions, and  allowed  dissent  from  the  then  established  relig- 
ion, Presbyterianism.  But  when  the  Scots  invaded  England 
to  rescue  Charles  I.,  the  army  having  to  divide  and  march 
in  different  directions,  the  Presbyterians  seized  the  oppor- 
tunity to  enforce  their  doctrines  and  usages.  Finally  Par- 
liament impeached  and  executed  the  king,  but  not  until  he 
had  reduced  the  government  to  a  despotism. 

Oliver  Cromwell  during  the  Protectorate  offered  free 
toleration  to  all  sects  except  papists  and  Episcopalians, 
but  forbade  the  clergy  to  meddle  with  politics.  For  some 
years  the  right  of  ordaining  parish  ministers  had  been  ex- 
clusively possessed  by  the  Presbyterians.  Cromwell  ap- 
pointed a  board  of  "  thirty  triers,"  composed  of  Presby- 
terians and  Independents  and  two  or  three  Baptists,  to 
examine  and  license  preachers  throughout  P^ngland,  and 
lay  commissioners  in  every  county  "  with  full  power  to 
check  scandalous,  impudent,  and  incompetent  ministers 
and  schoolmasters  "  ;  and  Parliament  confirmed  these  ordi- 
nances. 

When  Cromwell  died  and  his  son  Richard  came  into 
power,  the  Presbyterians  had  relinquished  the  hope  of 
obtaining  ecclesiastical  dominion  over  England  under  that 
form  of  government.  They  therefore,  in  1659,  formed  an 
alliance  with  the  Royalists  to  restore  the  king,  who  was 
quite  ready  to  negotiate  satisfactorily  to  the  Parliament. 
The  Presbyterians  were  as  strenuously  opposed  to  the 
views  of  the  republicans  as  to  the  ascendancy  of  Episcopal 
forms.    Charles  II.  ascended  the  throne  unfettered  by  any 


DEGENERATE  REIGN  OE  CHARLES  II.  21 

Stipulation  concerning  religion,  and  speedily  established 
Episcopacy  without  toleration  to  dissenters.  In  1662  the 
Act  of  Uniformity  was  passed,  making  it  criminal  to  dis- 
sent from  the  Established  Episcopal  Church.  A  few 
Presbyterian  clergymen  conformed,  but  more  than  two 
thousand,  most  of  whom  were  Presbyterians,  were  ex- 
pelled. 

Charles  II.  was  incapable  of  ruling  wisely  or  justly.  The 
influence  of  his  reign  was  evil.  He  lacked  genuine  ambi- 
tion, Was  essentially  frivolous,  indolent,  impatient,  and  with- 
out conscience,  vacillating  between  infidelity  and  popery. 
Morality  had  so  degenerated  that  "  poetry  stooped  to  be 
the  panderer  of  every  low  desire ;  ridicule,  instead  of  put- 
ting guilt  and  error  to  the  blush,  turned  her  formidable 
shafts  against  innocence  and  truth." 

Joseph  Jefferson,  in  discussing  the  influence  of  the  plays 
of  Shakespeare,  says  that  "  with  the  exception  of  one 
shameful  hiatus  in  the  time  of  Charles  I.  and  Charles  II., 
Shakespeare  has  always  held  the  supremacy  among  English- 
speaking  peoples.  But  he  was  too  polite  for  those  times. 
A  foul  court  had  forced  upon  the  people  dramas  so  terrible 
and  so  degraded  that  ladies  went  to  the  play  wearing  masks. 
The  stain  of  those  dramas  has  never  utterly  been  wiped  out, 
and  it  remains  on  the  stage  to  this  day."  The  church  con- 
tended against  it  but  feebly.  The  most  corrupt  of  the  peo- 
ple w^ere  politicians,  but  "  scarcely  any  rank  or  profession," 
says  Macaulay,  *'  escaped  the  infection  of  the  prevailing 
immorality." 

Before  the  inconsistent  career  of  Charles  II.  was  closed 
by  death  he  rejected  the  offices  of  the  Church  of  England, 
confessed  to  a  Roman  Catholic  priest,  and  received  extreme 
unction  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 

In  the  thirty-third  year  of  his  age  James  II.  avowed 
his  conversion  to  Romanism.      A  few  years  later  attempts 


22  THE  MKrHODISTS.  [Chap.  i. 

were  made  to  secure  his  exclusion  from  the  succession, 
and  he  was  ordered  to  quit  the  kingdom.  To  prevent  the 
passage  of  such  a  bill  Parliament  was  dissolved  in  1680; 
but  although  twice  "presented"  as  a  popish  recusant,  in 
1685  he  ascended  the  throne.  During  his  reign  he  aimed 
to  restore  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  and  to  prevent 
Parliament  from  restricting  either  his  despotic  spirit  or 
the  constitution.  Endeavoring  meanwhile  to  cajole  his 
subjects  by  a  declaration  in  favor  of  liberty  of  conscience, 
he  filled  his  army  and  council  with  Roman  Catholics,  but 
could  not  thereby  decei\-e  the  dissenters.  His  constant 
innovations  in  religion  and  government  finall}'  united  the 
people  against  him,  and  they  invited  the  Prince  of  Orange 
to  take  the  throne.  When  James,  who  had  been  ignorant 
of  their  purposes,  heard  of  the  invitation  to  William,  he  was 
terrified,  repealed  his  obnoxious  acts,  and  courted  popu- 
larity ;  but  it  was  then  too  late. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  in  the  history  of  those  times  that  the 
Quakers,  who  came  into  existence  as  a  community  in  the 
reign  of  Charles  I.,  and  the  supporters  of  royalty  among 
the  Anglican  clergy,  reached  from  totally  different  premises 
the  same  conclusion — that  no  act  of  tyranny  on  the  part  of 
a  prince  can  justify  active  resistance  on  the  part  of  a  sub- 
ject. James  IT.  had  procured  the  enactment  of  laws  ex- 
pressly designed  to  "  harry  Puritans,"  but  he  found  no  fault 
with  the  Quakers;  for,  taking  no  part  in  civil  affairs,  they 
neither  talked  politics  nor  engaged  in  conspiracies.  Mak- 
ing William  Penn  his  familiar  friend,  he  was  very  indul- 
gent to  them,  "  the  only  redeeming  quality  in  his  career  as 
king." 

Even  the  Roman  Catholics,  whose  cause  he  espoused, 
have  little  to  say  in  his  favor.  They  declare  that  his  zeal 
was  not  according  to  knowledge  ;  "  moreover,  the  scandal- 
ous immorality  of  his  private  life  damaged  his  advocacy ; 


WILLIAM  AND   MARY.  23 

Episcopal  Protestants  could  not  be  blamed  for  regarding 
with  distrust  the  efforts  of  the  married  lover  of  Catherine 
Sedley  to  advance  the  interests  of  his  religion  by  overrid- 
ing the  civil  laws."  ^ 

William,  who  was  a  Calvinist,  contributed  to  the  enact- 
ment and  enforcement  of  penal  laws  against  the  Roman 
Catholics.  Papists,  and  those  reputed  to  be  such,  were 
forbidden  to  live  within  ten  miles  of  Westminster,  and  a 
horse  worth  more  than  five  pounds  belonging  to  any  papist 
could  be  seized.  The  Toleration  Act  provided  that  noth- 
ing in  the  act  could  be  construed  to  give  "  ease,  benefit,  or 
advantage  to  any  papist."  The  Bill  of  Rights  declared 
that  no  papist,  or  any  one  that  married  a  papist,  should 
inherit  the  crown.  A  reward  of  a  hundred  pounds  was 
offered  for  information  leading  to  the  conviction  of  a  Catho- 
lic priest  for  saying  mass  or  keeping  school ;  such  priest 
would  be  imprisoned  for  life. 

The  occasion  for  these  persecuting  statutes  was  that  in 
every  department  of  the  public  service  Roman  Catholics 
"  had  much  more  than  ten  times  as  great  an  amount  of 
patronage  as  they  would  have  had  under  an  impartial  sys- 
tem." They  had  been  made  rulers  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  yet  the  laws  against  popery  were  unrepealed. 

The  moral  influence  of  William  and  Mary  was  better  than 
that  of  most  of  their  predecessors.  Her  character  was  re- 
markably fine,  and  his  courage,  decision,  conscientiousness, 
and  adherence  to  purpose  were  admirable  ;  but  his  unpopu- 
larity with  his  subjects,  growing  in  part  out  of  his  foreign 
origin  and  sympathies,  and  from  the  exercise  of  his  qual- 
ities in  connection  with  religious  controversies,  counteracted 
their  effect.  Dissensions  were  accentuated  by  the  fact 
that  the  primate  Bancroft  and  seven  of  the  bishops  refused 
to  take  oaths  of  allegiance  to  the  new  government,  on  ac- 

1  "  A  Catholic  Dictionary,"  by  William  E.  Addis  and  Thomas  Arnold,  M.A. 


24  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  i. 

count  of  which  they  were  suspended,  and  afterward  those 
who  survived  deprived.  Some  of  the  clergy  followed  their 
example,  being  known  with  them  as  nonjurors. 

Political  corruption  was  so  common  that  though  the 
conscience  of  William  was  strongly  opposed  to  it  and  he 
resolved  to  abstain  from  it,  and  during  the  first  year  of  his 
reign  did  so,  he  yielded  to  the  sophism  that  "  those  who 
receive  the  filthy  lucre  are  corrupt  already  ;  he  who  bribes 
them  does  not  make  them  wicked  ;  he  finds  them  so,  and 
he  merely  prevents  evil  propensities  from  producing  evil 
efTects."  Burnet  remonstrated  with  him.  The  king  re- 
sponded :  "  Nobody  hates  bribery  more  than  I ;  but  I  have 
to  do  with  a  set  of  men  who  must  be  managed  in  this  way 
or  not  at  all;  I  must  strain  a  point  or  the  country  is  lost." 

On  the  death  of  William,  in  1702,  Anne,  daughter  of 
James  II.,  ascended  the  throne.  In  her  time  public  and 
private  morality  were  at  a  lower  ebb  than  before,  though 
the  spirit  of  the  people  was  less  sanguinary  than  in  periods 
not  remote.  From  the  "  Tatler,"  the  "  Spectator,"  and  the 
"  Guardian  "  the  general  condition  of  manners  and  morals 
can  be  inferred.  It  was  a  time  of  double  dealing  in  poH- 
ticians  and  even  statesmen  of  all  parties,  and  of  rancor  and 
duplicity  in  ecclesiastics  in  the  way  of  preferment  in  the 
Church  of  England,  and  of  those  who  sought  power  by 
manipulating  dissenters  and  nonconformists.  It  was  also 
a  period  in  which  the  reflex  influence  of  war  added  to  the 
prevalent  demoralization,  and  questions  of  the  succession 
and  of  the  union  of  England  and  Scotland  diminished  the 
courage  and  stimulated  the  subtlety  of  the  ambitious. 

Superstition  was  revived,  for  Queen  Anne  brought  back 
the  ceremony  of  "touching  for  the  king's  evil,"  which 
William  III.  had  suflficient  sense  to  reject;  and  the  belief 
in  witchcraft  and  omens  was  general.  Drunkenness  and 
reveling  greatly  increased,  and  a  low  estimate  of  woman 


RELIGION  AND  MORALS.  2$ 

characterized  both  sexes.  "  Prudes  "  and  "  coquettes  " 
were  the  least  objectionable  characters  represented  upon 
the  stage,  which  had  not  recovered  from  the  degradation 
of  the  time  of  the  Stuarts. 

The  spirit  of  gambling  was  universally  diffused,  and,  with 
few  exceptions,  the  high  and  the  low  exhibited  an  almost 
total  lack  of  refinement.  The  queen  herself  was  not,  even 
on  her  better  side,  a  positive  moral  force,  and  the  "  good 
nature  and  generosity  which  procured  her  the  name  of  the 
'  good  Queen  Anne  '  seem  to  have  sprung  as  much  from 
the  indolence  of  her  temper  and  the  weakness  of  her  under- 
standing as  from  any  active  principle  of  benevolence."  ^ 

It  would  appear  that  from  the  time  of  Henry  VIII. 
everything  relating  to  religion — except  morals — had  re- 
ceived attention.  The  austerity  of  the  Puritan  party  pro- 
duced reactions,  and  unquestionably  tended  to  hypocrisy 
in  those  whose  interests  required  them  to  remain  in  con- 
nection with  the  Parliament  party,  and  who  found  its  rig- 
orous discipline  an  intolerable  burden.  The  mass  of  the 
people,  transferred  from  one  religious  system  to  another 
with  no  option  of  their  own,  were  either  submissive  or  in- 
different. The  divergence  of  views  concerning  the  proper 
observance  of  Sunday  promoted  general  disregard  of  the 
day.  Dissenters  of  different  sects  knew  little  of  toleration, 
less  of  fraternity ;  and  while  signal  examples  of  piety  and 
learning  were  found  in  the  Established  Church  and  among 
the  older  sects,  cant  and  formality  characterized  the  ma- 
jority. Controversy  could  be  enkindled  in  a  moment, 
speedily  became  tinged  witli  bitterness,  and  hurried  on  to 
violence.  The  greatest  extremes  of  doctrine,  discipline, 
and  ritual  were  advocated  with  vehemence,  while  to  gain 
a  temporary  ascendancy  apparently  destructive  compro- 
mises were  made,  only  to  smother  temporarily  the  flames 
1  "  Student's  Hume"  (London,  John  Murray,  1862). 


26  'J'JJ^   METHODISTS.  [CiiAi'.  i. 

which  raged  beneath.  The  spiritually  minded  and  all  of 
keen  sensibility  deplored  the  condition  of  social  and  eccle- 
siastical morals. 

The  connection  between  public  and  private  morality  is  so 
intimate  that  it  is  a  safe  generalization  that  neither  exists 
long  alone.  As  respects  many  external  things  the  refor- 
mation had  been  considerable  ;  but  as  regards  the  purpose 
for  which  Christianity  was  founded,  and  to  which  forms 
and  discipline  are  but  means,  and  in  all  but  a  few  essentials 
subordinate,  it  was  superficial. 


CHAPTER    II. 

PROGENITORS    OF   THE    FOUNDER, 

One  of  the  most  recent  lives  of  Wesley  ^  represents  that 
he  "  was  of  gentle  birth  on  both  sides.  The  Wesleys  were 
an  ancient  family  settled  in  the  west  of  England  from  the 
time  of  the  Conquest.  The  Annesleys,  his  mother's  fam- 
ily, were  an  equally  ancient  and  respected  stock." 

George  J.  Stevenson,-  M.A.,  of  London,  traces  the  an- 
cestors of  Wesley,  through  the  genealogical  table  prepared 
about  a  century  ago  by  the  descendants  of  the  Earl  of 
Mornington,  in  both  England  and  Ireland,  to  a  very  early 
period,  under  the  three  names  of  Wesley,  Westley,  and 
Wellesley ;  identifying  one  branch  of  the  family  down  to 
Arthur,  Duke  of  Wellington,  and  another  to  Herbert,  the 
only  son  of  Walter  Wesley,  who  received  the  honor  of 
knighthood  and  was  contemporary  with  Queen  Elizabeth. 
He  wedded  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Robert  Wesley,  of 
Dangan  Castle,  Ireland,  by  which  the  English  and  Irish 
branches  of  the  family  were  reunited.  To  them  were  born 
three  sons :  William,  heir  of  the  estates  and  contemporary 
with  James  I.  ;  Harphame,  who  died  unmarried  ;  and  Bar- 
tholomew, who  was  ordained  a  priest. 

Concerning  this  genealogical  tree  the  Epworth  Wesleys 
do  not  appear  to  have  known  or  cared  much,  for  John 
Wesley  declared  when  in  middle  life  that  all  he  or  his  fam- 

1  "  John  Wesley,"  by  J.  H.  Overton,  rector  of  Epworth. 

2  "  The  Wesley  Family." 

27 


28  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai>.  ii. 

ily  knew  of  their  ancestry  went  no  further  back  "  than  a 
letter  which  his  ^grandfather's  father  had  written  to  her  he 
was  to  marry."  That  letter  was  dated  1619,  so  that  Bar- 
tholomew Wesley  was  then  single.  Following  John  Wes- 
ley and  his  father,  Samuel,  most  biographers  begin  with 
Bartholomew  Wesley.  Thus  Southey  (chapter  i.,  Ameri- 
can edition)  says :  "  The  founder  of  Methodism  was  em- 
phatically of  a  good  family,  in  the  sense  in  which  he  him- 
self would  have  used  the  term."  Whitehead  and  Coke 
begin  at  the  same  point;  "  The  Life  and  Times  of  Samuel 
Wesley  "  represents  Bartholomew  Wesley  as  born  about 
the  year  1600;  Stevenson  puts  it  in  the  year  1595;  and 
all  accounts  agree  that  he  was  born  in  Dorsetshire. 

A  comparison  of  dates  makes  clear  tliat  Puritanism  was 
rapidly  spreading  in  the  national  church  during  the  period 
of  the  childhood  and  youth  of  Bartholomew  Wesley,  who 
was  educated  at  the  University  of  Oxford,  where  he  pur- 
sued the  study  of  physic  and  divinity.  The  maiden  to 
whom  was  written  the  letter  of  which  John  Wesley  speaks 
was  the  daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Colley,  of  Kildare,  Ireland. 
Little  is  told  of  his  family  or  personal  history  after  his 
marriage  until  1640,  when  he  was  installed  rector  of  Cath- 
erston,  in  his  native  county.  He  was  born  in  the  last  days 
of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  before  his  installation  passed 
through  the  reigns  of  James  L  and  Charles  L,  being  about 
thirty  years  of  age  when  the  latter  ascended  the  throne. 
The  political  and  ecclesiastical  subjects  discussed  and  the 
state  of  his  mind  during  the  formative  period  can  easily 
be  inferred  from  contemporary  history. 

Ten  years  after  his  induction  into  the  rectory  of  Cathers- 
ton  that  of  Charmoutii  was  added,  the  two  villages  being 
about  a  mile  apart.  The  trial  and  judicial  beheading  of 
Charles  L  took  place  while  he  was  in  his  prime,  and  he 
held  these  rectories  during  all  the  wars  of  the  Common- 


THE  REV.  BARTHOLOMEW  WESLEY.  29 

wealth,  the  career  of  OHver  Cromwell  as  Protector,  the 
brief  period  during  which  his  son  Richard  reigned,  and 
the  first  two  years  of  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  when,  being 
strenuously  opposed  to  the  latter's  dissolute  life,  perfidious 
character,  and  popish  tendencies,  he  was  one  of  the  two 
thousand  ministers  ejected  in  1662  under  the  Act  of  Uni- 
formity. 

Bartholomew  Wesley  continued  to  live  in  Charmouth  for 
many  years,  preaching  when  he  could,  and  administering 
medicine  when  occasion  demanded.  Throughout  that  west- 
ern region  dissenting  Christians  were  persecuted  in  every 
possible  way  and  were  compelled  to  worship  God  secretly. 
In  1664  one  of  his  neighbors  wrote  of  him:  "  This  Wesley 
of  Charmouth,  now  a  nonconformist,  lives  by  the  practice 
of  physic  in  that  place."  In  a  book  published  the  same 
year  the  author  calls  Wesley  "  the  puny  parson  of  the 
place,  and  a  most  devoted  friend  to  the  parricides."  Con- 
cerning this  epithet  Stevenson  remarks  :  "  All  the  Wesleys 
for  three  hundred  years  were  of  small  stature,  ranging  from 
five  feet  four  to  five  feet  six  inches." 

Bartholomew  Wesley  had  but  one  son,  John,  born  in 
Devonshire  in  1636.  Like  his  father,  he  was  educated 
at  Oxford,  where  his  proficiency  was  marked ;  and  at 
the  age  of  twenty-two  he  had  taken  his  degree  of  master 
of  arts.  Dr.  John  Owen,  chaplain  to  Oliver  Cromwell, 
was  vice-chancellor  at  the  university,  and,  observing  that 
John  Wesley  was  of  a  serious  turn  and  attentive  to  his 
studies,  gave  him  sympathy  and  assistance.  Proficient  in 
every  department,  he  applied  himself  especially  to  the 
study  of  the  oriental  languages.  It  is  probable  that  he 
was  at  Oxford  during  the  entire  time  of  Dr.  Owen's 
administration.  Oxford  had  suffered  much  from  a  long 
siege,  and  was  compared  to  Jerusalem  in  ruins.  Colleges 
had  been  turned  into  barracks,  and  halls  into  granaries. 


30  THE  ME'rilODISrS.  [Cmap.  n. 

"  There  was  little  or  no  education  of  youth ;  poverty, 
desolation,  and  plunder — the  sad  effects  of  war — were  to 
be  seen  in  every  corner."  The  most  learned  men  among 
the  Puritans  were  then  there,  and  among  the  students 
were  William  Penn,  Dr.  South,  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  and 
Wliitby  the  commentator. 

Previous  to  his  induction  into  the  ministry  John  Wesley 
was  obliged  to  pass  an  examination  before  Oliver  Crom- 
well's triers,  was  installed  four  months  before  Cromwell 
died,  and  married  the  daughter  of  John  White,  one  of  the 
members  of  the  Westminster  Assembly.  During  the  civil 
war  he  took  up  the  sword  for  the  party  represented  by 
a  Committee  of  Safety  based  upon  seven  principles :  that 
there  should  be  no  king,  and  no  single  person  as  chief 
magistrate;  the  army  should  be  continued;  there  should 
be  no  imposition  upon  conscience,  no  house  of  peers ;  that 
the  legislative  and  executive  powers  should  be  in  distinct 
hands ;  and  that  Parliament  should  be  elected  by  the  peo- 
ple. When  the  wars  were  over  and  Charles  ascended  the 
throne  in  1660,  John  Wesley  submitted,  taking  the  oath 
of  allegiance. 

He  was,  however,  brought  before  the  Bishop  of  Bristol 
on  a  charge  that  he  would  not  read  the  liturgy.  Their  dia- 
logue occupies  six  pages  of  Tyerman's  "  Life  of  Wesley," 
and  the  similarity  between  the  terseness  of  the  founder  of 
Methodism  and  that  of  his  grandfather  is  extraordinary. 

"  '  What  is  your  name  ?  ' 

'"John  Wesley.' 

"  '  By  whom  were  you  ordained,  or  are  you  ordained?' 

"  '  I  am  sent  to  preach  the  gospel.' 

"  '  By  whom  were  you  sent  ?  ' 

"  '  By  a  church  of  Jesus  Christ.' 

"  'What  church  is  that?' 

"  '  The  church  of  Christ  at  Melcombe.' 


THE  FIRST  JOHN   WESLEY.  3  I 

"  '  That  factious  and  heretical  church?  ' 

"  '  May  it  please  you,  sir,  I  know  of  no  faction  or  heresy 
that  that  church  is  guilty  of.   .   .   .' 

"  *  Did  you  not  ride  with  your  sword  in  the  time  of  the 
Committee  of  Safety,  and  engage  with  them  ? ' 

"  '  Whatever  imprudence  in  civil  matters  you  may  be  in- 
formed I  am  guilty  of,  I  shall  crave  leave  to  acquaint  your 
lordship  that  his  Majesty  having  pardoned  them  fully, 
and  I  having  suffered  on  account  of  them  since  the  par- 
don, I  shall  put  in  no  other  plea,  and  waive  any  other 
answer.   .   .   .' 

"  *  They  would  approve  any  that  would  come  to  them 
and  close  with  them.  I  know  they  approved  those  who 
could  not  read  twelve  lines  of  English.' 

"  '  All  that  they  did  I  know  not ;  but  I  was  examined 
touching  gifts  and  graces.' 

"  '  I  question  not  your  gifts,  Mr.  Wesley.  I  will  do  you 
any  good  I  can ;  but  you  will  not  long  be  suffered  to 
preach  unless  you  do  it  according  to  order.' 

"  '  I  shall  submit  to  any  trial  you  shall  please  to  make. 
I  shall  present  your  lordship  with  a  confession  of  my  faith, 
or  take  what  other  way  you  please  to  insist  on.' 

"  '  No ;  we  are  not  come  to  that  yet.' 

" '  I  shall  desire  several  things  may  be  laid  together, 
which  I  look  on  as  justifying  my  preaching:  (i)  I  was  de- 
voted to  the  service  from  my  infancy.  (2)  I  was  educated 
thereto,  at  school  and  in  the  university.' 

"  '  What  university  were  you  of?  ' 

"  'Oxon.' 

"'What  house?' 

"  '  New  Inn  Hall.' 

"  '  What  age  are  you  ?  ' 

"  '  Twenty-five.' 

"  '  No,  sure,  you  are  not!' 


32  'J'JIi--    METIIODIS'IS.  [CiiAi'.  ii. 

"  '  (3)  As  a  son  of  the  prophets,  after  I  had  taken  my 
degrees,  I  preached  in  the  country,  being  approved  of 
by  judicious,  able  Christians,  ministers  and  others.  (4)  It 
pleased  God  to  seal  my  labor  with  success,  in  the  apparent 
conversion  of  several  souls.'  " 

This  examination  shows  that  John  Wesley  had  not  been 
episcopally  ordained ;  that  he  was  a  man  of  gifts ;  was  set 
apart  by  the  church;  that  he  set  aside  the  liturgy;  that 
he  was  a  man  of  courage ;  that,  like  Paul  before  Agrippa, 
he  made  upon  his  judge  a  favorable  impression  as  to  his 
sincerity,  piety,  and  usefulness ;  and  that  the  bishoja  was 
disposed  to  be  fair-minded. 

This  was  not  the  end  of  his  troubles.  Toward  the  close 
of  the  year  the  Convocation  revised  the  Prayer-book,  and 
in  August,  1662,  the  use  of  it  was  made  binding.  There 
were  acts  by  which  John  Wesley  might  have  been  ex- 
pelled, but  for  reasons  not  ascertained  his  opponents  in 
the  parish  took  other  means  of  securing  his  ejection. 
Two  years  after  Charles  II.  was  restored  Mr.  Wesley  was 
committed  to  jail  on  the  charge  of  refusing  to  use  the 
Prayer-book.  It  was  a  superstitious  age,  and  after  Wes- 
ley had  been  in  prison  for  some  time,  Sir  Girrard  Nap- 
per,  who  had  been  the  most  forward  in  committing  him, 
broke  his  collar-bone,  and  fearing  that  this  might  be  a  judg- 
ment for  his  cruelty  to  the  minister,  he  took  measures  to 
have  him  bailed.  The  privy  council  finally  ordered  that 
he  should  be  discharged,  provided  he  would  take  the 
oaths  of  supremacy  and  allegiance.  For  that  purpose 
he  was  brought  before  a  magistrate,  who  for  some  reason 
unknown  refused  to  administer  the  oaths,  and  issued  a 
warrant  commanding  him  to  appear  before  the  judges  at 
the  next  assize,  two  days  later. 

He  could  make  little  preparation,  but  a  solicitor  appeared 
for  him.      In  his  diary  there  is  an  account  of  his  examina- 


HIS   PERSECUTIONS  AND   DEATH.  33 

tion  and  an  ascription  of  praise  to  God  because  the  afore- 
said solicitor  pleaded  for  him,  "  and  the  judge,  though  a 
man  of  sharp  temper,  spoke  not  an  angry  word."  After 
an  explanation  as  to  why  he  was  not  ready,  and  inquiries 
by  the  Bishop  of  Bristol  concerning  his  former  examina- 
tion, he  was  questioned  as  to  his  legal  right  to  preach. 

While  the  judge  was  consulting  the  Act  another  case 
was  called,  and  John  Wesley  was  bound  over  to  the  next 
term.  He  continued  to  preach  until  just  before  he  was  ex- 
pelled from  church  and  rectory,  with  a  multitude  of  others, 
after  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  He  then  delivered  a  farewell 
sermon  from  Acts  xx.  32:  "And  now,  brethren,  I  com- 
mend you  to  God,  and  the  word  of  his  grace." 

Although  John  Wesley  was  the  father  of  a  numerous 
family,  for  more  than  a  century  the  names  of  but  two 
children  were  known ;  recently  the  names  of  five  and  the 
dates  of  the  birth  of  the  first  four  have  been  ascertained, 
Samuel  being  the  fourth,  born  December  16,  1662.  As 
the  Act  of  Uniformity  went  into  effect  on  the  24th  of 
August,  Samuel  Wesley  was  born  four  months  after  his 
parents  were  made  homeless,  and  when  he  was  but  nine 
weeks  old  they  removed  to  Melcombe ;  but  Sir  Girrard 
Napper  and  seven  other  magistrates  had  control,  and  in- 
duced the  corporation  to  make  an  order  against  their  set- 
tlement in  the  town.  To  enforce  this  a  fine  of  two 
pounds  was  to  be  levied  upon  the  owner  of  any  house  in 
which  they  might  be  permitted  to  live,  and  five  shillings 
per  week  upon  themselves.  Driven  out  by  these  violent 
proceedings,  he  and  his  family  became  wanderers,  going 
from  place  to  place,  "  in  all  of  which  the  Presbyterians,  In- 
dependents, and  Baptists  treated  him  with  great  kindness, 
and  where  he  preached  almost  every  day."  ^ 

Joseph  Alleine,  author  of  that  awakening  and  judicious 

^  Tyerman's  "  Life  and  Times  of  Samuel  Wesley,  M.A." 


34  THE  METHODISIS.  [Chai'.  ii. 

work,  "  An  Alarm  to  Unawakened  Sinners,"  which  ap- 
peared in  1672  and  is  repubhshed  to  this  day,  was  impris- 
oned, in  the  heat  of  the  hottest  summer,  with  fifty  Quakers, 
seventeen  Baptists,  and  thirteen  other  ministers,  in  one 
room,  "  the  ceihng  so  low  that  at  night,  when  lying  on 
their  mattresses,  the  prisoners  could  touch  the  glowing 
tiles;"  and  John  Wesley  narrowly  escaped  the  same  fate. 

A  friend  at  length  offered  him  a  house  in  Preston  rent 
free,  where  he  dwelt,  with  the  exception  of  a  brief  absence, 
until  his  death. 

While  residing  at  Preston  he  endeavored  to  preach  regu- 
larly ;  but  owing  to  the  Oxford  Five  Mile  Act,  though  very 
prudent,  he  was  often  disturbed  and  four  times  imprisoned, 
once  for  three  months  and  once  for  half  a  year.  Accord- 
ing tO'  Stevenson  he  died  in  Preston,  and  is  said  to  have 
been  secretly  buried  by  night,  as  the  Royalist  party,  then 
in  power,  refused  his  body  a  place  in  the  churchyard 
where  he  had  so  long  ministered.  The  general  belief  is 
that  he  was  forty-two  years  of  age  ;  but  from  Dr.  Callamy's 
description,  written  about  1703,  he  died  "  when  he  had  not 
been  much  longer  an  inhabitant  here  below  than  his  blessed 
Master  was."  Accepting  the  latter  assumption,  his  son 
Samuel  was  sixteen  years  of  age  when  his  father  died. 
His  widow  survived  him  more  than  thirty  years. 

Bartholomew  Wesley  was  still  living,  but,  as  Southey 
remarks,  "  the  loss  of  this  his  only  son  brought  his  gray 
hairs  in  sorrow  to  the  grave."  ^ 

Samuel  Wesley's  mother,  the  wife  of  John,  was  the 
youngest  daughter  of  John  White,  a  Puritan  divine  of  great 
learning,  a  perpetual  fellow  of  New  College,  Oxford,  and 
a  frequent  preacher  there.  He  was  prosecuted  in  1630  by 
Archbishop  Laud  for  preaching  against  Arminianism  and 
the  ceremonies  of  the  Established  Church ;  thirteen  years 

1  Southey,  vol.  i.,  p.  54,  American  edition. 


THE   "PATRIARCH  OF  DORCHESTER.^  35 

afterward  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  Westminster  Assem- 
bly, of  which  he  was  one  of  the  three  assessors,  and  was 
for  many  years  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Dorchester.  In 
1624  he  and  some  of  his  friends  projected  the  new  colony 
of  Massachusetts  in  New  England,  and,  after  surmounting 
numerous  obstacles,  secured  a  patent.  The  object  was  to 
provide  an  asylum  for  the  persecuted  fugitives  who  were 
not  able  to  conform  to  the  ceremonies  and  discipline  of  the 
Church  of  England.  In  defense  of  the  project  he  wrote 
"The  Planter's  Plea,"  published  in  London  in  1630,  a 
work  of  the  highest  authority,  referred  to  at  length  in  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society's  collections  and  Young's 
"  Chronicle  of  Massachusetts."  Dorchester,  Mass.,  was 
given  its  name  from  the  fact  that  this  John  White  was 
rector  of  Trinity  Church  in  Dorghester,  England.  Some 
writers  represent  him  as  having  arrived  there  with  the 
colony,  but  Edward  Everett,  in  his  "  Dorchester  in  1630, 
1776,  and  1855,"^  writes:  "Like  Robinson  in  reference 
to  Plymouth,  John  White  never  set  foot  upon  the  soil 
of  Massachusetts,  but  he  was  the  most  efficient  promoter 
of  the  undertaking  which  resulted  in  the  settlement  not 
merely  of  our  ancient  town,  but  of  the  colony." 

He  suffered  in  the  civil  wars,  his  house  being  robbed  by 
a  cavalry  company  under  the  command  of  Prince  Rupert, 
who,  doubtless  thinking  to  paralyze  him,  stole  his  library. 
His  daughter,  the  mother  of  John  Wesley,  was  also  the 
niece  of  the  famous  Dr.  Thomas  Fuller,  who  describes  the 
Rev.  John  White  as  "  grave  without  being  morose,"  and  as 
having  "  in  the  course  of  his  long  ministry  expounded  the 
Scriptures  all  over  and  half  through  again,  and  was  so  much 
beloved  by  his  people  that  he  could  wind  them  up  to  what 
height  he  pleased." 

In  view  of  the  honest  poverty  of  his  father,  it  is  not  re- 

1  Everett's  "  Orations  and  Speeches,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  306,  edition  of  1858. 


36  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  ii. 

markable  that  Samuel  Wesley's  early  education  was  ob- 
tained at  the  free  school  in  Dorchester.  He  remembered 
his  master,  Mr.  Henry  Dolling,  with  such  respect  that  to 
him  was  dedicated  his  first  book.  Here  he  continued  until 
he  was  fifteen,  when  he  was  sent  to  school  in  London,  ar- 
riving the  year  that  the  popish  plot  of  Titus  Oates  was 
exposed.  Oates  had  been  one  of  Cromwell's  chaplains, 
then  took  orders  jn  the  Church  of  England,  was  twice  con- 
victed of  perjury  while  still  holding  his  office,  became  chap- 
lain on  board  a  man-of-war,  but  was  dismissed  for  various 
iniquities,  and  went  into  the  service  of  the  Duke  of  Nor- 
folk, who  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  became  one  himself,  and 
entered  a  Jesuit  college  in  Spain,  was  expelled,  and  after- 
ward cast  out  of  a  similar  college  in  France,  and  finally 
returned  to  England  thoroughly  disgraced.  He  then  pro- 
fessed to  reveal  a  frightful  plot,  said  to  have  been  con- 
cocted by  the  procurement  of  the  pope,  to  murder  the  king 
and  his  brother  James,  the  Duke  of  York. 

Awful  events  followed.  Godfrey,  who  took  Oates's 
depositions,  was  murdered.  He  was  esteemed  a  Protest- 
ant martyr,  and  followed  to  the  grave  by  a  long  proces- 
sion headed  by  seventy  Protestant  clergymen  in  full  can- 
onicals. Oates  was  summoned  before  Parliament.  All 
classes  of  Protestants  felt  their  lives  to  be  in  danger. 
Leading  Roman  Catholics  were  committed  to  the  Tower, 
and  ordinary  prisons  filled  with  them.  Men  of  that  faith 
were  expelled  from  their  seats  in  both  houses  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  a  number  executed. 

A  reaction,  however,  took  place.  Oates  was  whipped 
through  the  streets  of  London,  thrown  into  prison  for  a  sea- 
son, brought  out  again,  and  it  is  claimed  by  an  eye-wit- 
ness who  counted  them  that  he  "  received  seventeen  hun- 
dred stripes  in  one  day."  When  set  free  he  resumed  the 
place  which  he  had  held  among  the  Baptists,  who  were 


EARLY  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL    WESLEY.  37 

obliged  to  reject  him.  Meanwhile  wars  were  raging  in 
Scotland.  A  few  years  later  Lord  Russell  was  executed 
and  Algernon  Sidney  was  condemned  on  Tower  Hill. 

Samuel  Wesley  was  in  London  at  this  time  and  wit- 
nessed all  these  scenes.  He  pursued  his  studies  first  in  a 
grammar-school,  then  in  the  academy  at  Stepney.  In  the 
former  he  advanced  so  rapidly  that  the  master  desired  to 
send  him  direct  to  the  university,  and  promised  him  sup- 
port ;  but  a  certain  dissenting  congregation,  out  of  respect 
for  his  father,  offered  him  thirty  pounds  a  year  if  he  would 
go  to  the  academy  of  the  Rev.  Edward  Veal,  who  had 
studied  at  Christ  Church  College,  Oxford,  and  Trinity 
College,  Dublin,  and  bore  the  highest  reputation  for  learn- 
ing and  piety.  Here  he  remained  two  years,  so  progress- 
ing as  to  receive  an  additional  bonus  of  ten  pounds  per 
annum.  The  school  was  broken  up  by  the  persecutions 
of  the  neighboring  magistrates,  and  he  went  to  an  academy 
at  Newington  Green,  taught  by  Charles  Morton,  who  was 
also  persecuted,  and  while  Samuel  Wesley  was  a  student 
there  was  obliged  to  leave  the  ssiiool  and  conceal  himself. 
Removing  to  this  country,  he  became  vice-president  of 
Harvard  College. 

Samuel  Wesley  long  afterward  thus  extolled  him  :  "  Mr. 
Morton  was  an  ingenious  and  universally  learned  man ; 
but  his  chief  excellency  lay  in  mathematics.  He  had  many 
gentlemen  of  estate,  who  paid  him  well ;  but  he  thought 
more  of  the  glory  of  God  than  of  his  private  profit." 

The  students  of  that  school  had  a  mortal  antipathy  to 
the  Episcopal  order,  and  justified  the  doctrines  that  had 
led  to  the  judicial  killing  of  Charles  L  Many  of  them 
were  opposed  to  the  monarchy,  and  those  "  who  com- 
posed the  bitterest  and  most  ill-mannered  sarcasms  on  the 
public  prayers  and  liturgy  of  the  church  were  caressed, 
hugged,  encouraged,  and  commended  by  the  heads  of  the 


38  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  ii. 

dissenting  party,  Wesley  himself  sharing  in  the  applause 
awarded."  ' 

It  was  at  this  period  that  he  wrote  numerous  lampoons, 
principally  directed  against  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of 
England  and  its  dignitaries,  some  of  which  were  scurrilous. 
His  first  book  was  entitled  "  Maggots,"  and  several  of  the 
poems  are  low  in  thought  and  expression,  though  all  dis- 
play marked  talents. 

Years  afterward  Samuel  Wesley,  while  highly  com- 
mending Mr.  Morton  for  cautioning  the  students  against 
writing  scandalous  libels,  says  that  "  some  of  the  gravest, 
oldest,  and  most  learned  of  dissenting  ministers  encour- 
aged and  pushed  him  on  in  his  silly  lampoons  both  on 
church  and  state,  gave  him  subjects,  and  furnished  him 
with  matter." 

While  in  London  Samuel  Wesley  had  the  opportunity 
of  hearing  Isaac  Barrow,  John  Bunyan,  and  Stephen  Char- 
nock,  and  others  of  similar  rank ;  and  before  he  left  London 
for  the  university  "  had  taken  down  hundreds  of  their  ser- 
mons." ^ 

In  August,  1680,  possessing  but  forty-five  shiUings,  he 
walked  from  London  to  Oxford,  and  entered  himself  as  a 
student  in  Exeter  College.  The  entries  in  his  own  hand- 
writing spell  the  name  Westley.  The  evidence  of  energy 
and  determination  of  character  afforded  by  this  step  is 
conclusive.  He  had  no  friends  upon  whom  he  could  rely. 
His  mother,  after  years  of  persecution  and  suffering,  had 
been  left  penniless,  and  was  now  aged  and  helpless.  The 
same  year,  before  starting  for  Exeter,  he  left  the  dissent- 
ers and  lost  their  friendship.  His  own  reasons  are  thus 
given  by  his  son,  John  Wesley  :  "  Some  severe  invectives 
being  written  against  the  dissenters,  Mr.  Samuel  Wesley, 

1  Tyerman's  "  Life  and  Times  of  Samuel  Wesley,"  p.  69. 

2  //;/(/.,  p.  76. 


CHANGES  HIS  RELIGIOUS    VIEWS.  39 

being  a  young  man  of  considerable  talents,  was  pitched 
upon  to  answer  them.  This  set  him  on  a  course  of  read- 
ing, which  soon  produced  an  eflfect  diflferent  from  what  had 
been  intended.  Instead  of  writing  the  wished-for  answer 
he  himself  conceived  he  saw  reason  to  change  his  opinions, 
and  actually  formed  a  resolution  to  renounce  the  dissent- 
ers and  attach  himself  to  the  Established  Church." 

He  resided  at  that  time  with  his  mother  and  an  aged 
aunt,  both  of  whom  were  too  strongly  attached  to  the  dis- 
senting doctrines  to  bear  with  any  patience  the  disclosure 
of  his  change  of  views.  He  therefore  arose  one  morning 
before  daybreak,  and,  without  acquainting  any  one  with 
his  purpose,  set  out  for  Oxford,  to  enter  Exeter  College ; 
subsequently  he  implored  the  divine  direction,  "  examined 
things  over  and  over  as  calmly  and  impassionately  as  pos- 
sible, and,  speaking  of  himself,  writes  :  "  The  mist  cleared 
up,  things  appeared  in  another  sort  of  light  than  I  had  seen 
them  in  all  my  life  before."  He  gives  a  minute  account 
of  the  processes  which  led  him  to  go  to  Oxford — an  act 
equivalent  to  a  final  renunciation  of  the  dissenters. 

His  admission  was  at  the  lowest  point.  He  was  a 
pauper  scholaris,  and  was  obliged  to  pay  fees,  purchasing 
clothes  and  fuel  by  working  in  various  ways.  He  remained 
five  years  at  Oxford,  and  finished  his  studies  without  debt ; 
having  earned  money  by  his  writings  and  by  assisting  other 
students  not  so  far  advanced  or  who  were  indolent,  he  had 
saved  seven  pounds  and  fifteen  shillings.  Notwithstand- 
ing his  labors  as  servitor  and  coacher,  he  was  so  well  pre- 
pared for  his  examinations  as  to  be  created  Bachelor  of 
Arts,  and  enjoyed  the  distinction  of  being  the  only  student 
of  Exeter  College  who  during  that  year  successfully  passed. 
Though  not  especially  religious,  he  did  considerable  be- 
nevolent work  in  visiting  prisons. 

While  he  was  in   the   university  Charles  H.  died  and 


40  THE   METHODISTS.  ■  [Chap.  ii. 

James  II.  succeeded  him.  The  conflicts  resulting  from  the 
king's  despotic  conduct,  and  his  determination  to  reestab- 
lish the  Roman  CathoHc  rehgion,  cuhninated,  so  far  as  Ox- 
ford University  was  concerned,  when  he  commanded  the 
fellows  of  Magdalen  to  elect  Dr.  Samuel  Parker,  Bishop  of 
Oxford,  president  of  this  college — a  man  who  had  been  a 
Puritan  preacher  under  Cromwell,  a  bigoted  High-church- 
man under  the  Restoration,  and  now  was  ready  to  promote 
the  schemes  of  James  II.  and  become  a  papist.  Parker 
wrote  many  books  in  a  strain  of  contempt  and  fury  against 
all  dissenters,  and  exalted  the  king's  authority  in  matters 
of  religion  to  such  an  extent  as  to  become  blasphemous, 
condemning  the  ordinary  assertion  that  the  king  was 
under  God  and  under  Christ  as  "  a  crude  and  profane  ex- 
pression," saying  that  "  the  king  was  indeed  under  God ; 
he  was  not  under  Christ,  but  above  him."  ^  The  fellows 
refused;  whereupon  James  II.  came  to  Oxford  and  sum- 
moned them  into  his  presence.  Samuel  Wesley  was  there, 
and  heard  him  cry  :  "  You  have  not  dealt  with  me  like  gen- 
tlemen. You  have  been  unmannerly  as  well  as  undutiful. 
Is  this  your  Church  of  England  loyalty?  .  .  .  Go  home! 
— get  you  gone!  I  am  king!  I  will  be  obeyed!  Go  to 
your  chapel  this  instant  and  admit  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  !  " 
As  they  would  not  obey  they  were  expelled,  and  by  a  mix- 
ture of  force  and  fraud  the  king  succeeded  in  accomplish- 
ing his  purpose.  Parker  died  in  a  few  months,  as  he  had 
lived,  "  a  drunkard  and  a  miser,  unlamented  and  even 
despised  by  all  good  men." 

Though  disgusted  by  the  evidences  that  the  king  was 
a  tyrant,  and  determined  to  give  him  no  support,  a  few 
months  afterward,  when  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  born, 
Samuel  Wesley  wrote  a  poem  in  honor  of  the  king  and  of 
the  prince.  But  in  one  year  after  the  scene  at  Magdalen 
^  "  Burnet's  History  of  His  Own  Time,"  p.  443,  Bohn  edition. 


ORDINATION  AND  MARRIAGE.  41 

came  the  ignominious  flight  to  France  of  James  II.  and  the 
entry  of  WilHam,  Prince  of  Orange. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  the  revolution  that  Samuel  Wes- 
ley left  the  university,  afterward  taking  M.A.  both  at  Ox- 
ford and  Cambridge.  He  was  ordained  deacon,  August  7, 
1688,  by  Thomas  Spratt,  Bishop  of  Rochester;  and  on  the 
24th  of  February,  1689,  was  ordained  priest  by  Dr.  Comp- 
ton,  Bishop  of  London.  It  was  to  him  a  pleasant  coin- 
cidence that  both  these  prelates  were  at  Oxford  with  his 
father.  The  church  in  which  these  services  were  held  is 
believed  to  be  St.  Andrew,  Holborn. 

These  were  trying  times,  for  twelve  days  before  Samuel 
Wesley  was  ordained  a  priest  Parliament  declared  William 
and  Mary  king  and  queen.  In  the  Church  of  England  were 
Stillingfleet ;  Tillotson,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury ;  Ken, 
the  author  of  "  Morning  and  Evening  Hymns  "  ;  South,  in 
some  respects  the  ablest  intellect  the  church  has  ever  had 
in  England ;  Burnet ;  Beveridge,  the  oriental  scholar ;  and 
Whitby,  the  commentator.  Among  the  dissenters  were 
such  men  as  Daniel  Williams,  successor  of  Baxter,  and  with- 
out an  equal  among  the  Presbyterians  of  the  time,  and 
Matthew  Henry,  the  expositor.  Jonathan  Swift,  Dryden, 
and  John  Locke  were  writing,  and  Isaac  Newton  pursuing 
his  discoveries. 

The  first  gift  of  the  church  to  Samuel  Wesley  was  a 
curacy  with  an  income  of  twenty-eight  pounds  per  annum. 
For  a  few  months  he  held  the  desirable  position  of  naval 
chaplain,  with  a  stipend,  high  for  those  times,  of  seventy 
pounds.  This  he  resigned  for  another  curacy  at  thirty 
pounds  a  year,  and  with  his  pen  he  earned  thirty  pounds 
additional. 

Considering  himself  now  justified  in  marriage,  he  sought 
as  his  bride  Susannah,  the  youngest  daughter  and  twenty- 
fifth  child  of  Dr.  Samuel  Annesley. 


42  TJIE  MEriJODISTS.  [Chap.  ii. 

Dr.  Annesley  was  born  in  the  year  the  Pilgrims  sailed 
from  Holland  for  the  New  World.  Left  fatherless  at  the 
age  of  four  years,  he  was  trained  by  his  devout  mother,  and 
when  only  six  years  old  he  disclosed  his  intention  to  be 
a  minister,  and  soon  afterward  determined  to  read  twenty 
chapters  of  the  Bible  each  day  so  long  as  he  lived,  from 
which  habit  he  did  not  depart.  He  was  graduated  from 
Oxford,  and  from  that  institution  received  the  degree  of 
LL.D.  When  he  was  twenty-four  he  became  a  chaplain 
in  the  navy,  and  at  twenty-eight  preached  the  Fast-day 
sermon  before  the  House  of  Commons.  In  1652  he  became 
minister  of  the  Church  of  St.  John  the  Apostle,  in  London. 
As  his  popularity  increased  honors  were  rained  upon  him, 
arid  in  1658  he  ministered  to  two  of  the  largest  congrega- 
tions in  the  city,  the  living  of  one  of  which  yielded  him 
seven  hundred  pounds. 

He  was,  however,  one  of  the  two  thousand  ministers 
ejected  by  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  and  endured  much  per- 
secution. In  1672,  "  when  for  the  sake  of  the  papists  King 
Charles  unconstitutionally  suspended  for  a  time  the  penal 
laws  in  matters  of  religion,"  Dr.  Annesley  leased  a  meeting- 
house and  gathered  a  large  church,  of  which  he  remained 
pastor  until  his  death,  December  31,  1696,  at  the  end  of 
fifty-five  years  in  the  ministry. 

In  that  meeting-house,  in  1694,  was  ordained  the  re- 
nowned Edmund  Calamy,  an  event  of  unusual  historical 
importance,  as  it  was  the  first  ordination  that  the  dissent- 
ers had  been  allowed  to  solemnize  publicly  for  above 
thirty  years. 

Tyerman's  "  Life  and  Times  of  Samuel  Wesley  "  records 
a  number  of  interesting  facts  in  the  career  of  Dr.  Annesley, 
and  incidents  revealing  his  characteristics.  In  Williams's 
"Biography  "  it  is  stated  that  he  was  able  to  endure  the 
coldest  weather  without  hat,  gloves,  or  fire  ;  for  years  he 


ANCESTRY  OF  SUSANNAH   WESLEY.  43 

drank  nothing  but  water,  and  until  his  death  could  read 
without  glasses  the  smallest  print.  In  spirit  and  action  he 
seems  to  have  been  an  antetype  of  the  true  Methodist.  For 
the  last  thirty  years  of  his  life  he  rejoiced  in  an  uninter- 
rupted assurance  of  God's  forgiving  love.  Daniel  Defoe, 
the  author  of  "  Robinson  Crusoe,"  was  one  of  his  congre- 
gation, and  wrote  an  elegy,  which  is,  in  fact,  a  comprehen- 
sive biography.      In  part  it  is : 

His  pious  course  with  childhood  he  began, 
And  was  his  Maker's  sooner  than  his  o\ix\ ; 
The  heavenly  book  he  made  his  only  school — 
In  youth  his  study,  and  in  age  his  rule. 
A  Moses  for  humility  and  zeal, 
For  innocence  a  true  Nathanael ; 
Faithful  as  Abraham  or  the  truer  spies, 
No  man  more  honest  and  but  few  so  wise. 
Humility  was  his  darling  grace, 
And  honesty  sat  regent  in  his  face. 
A  heavenly  patience  did  his  mind  possess — 
Cheerful  in  pain,  and  thankful  in  distress. 

Dr.  Annesley  wedded  the  daughter  of  John  White,  who 
was  a  lawyer  by  profession,  a  Puritan  in  principles,  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee for  Religion,  a  member  of  the  Westminster  Assem- 
bly, and  a  radical.  He  delivered  a  speech  in  the  House  of 
Commons  in  1 641,  in  which  he  contended  "  that  the  office 
of  bishop  and  presbyter  is  the  same ;  and  that  the  offices 
of  deacons,  chancellors,  vicars,  surrogates,  are  all  of  human 
origin,  and  ought  to  be  abolished,  as  being  altogether  super- 
fluous and  of  no  service  to  the  church."  In  this  speech  he 
admits  that  some  of  the  bishops  were  personally  correct, 
but  declares  "  that  the  bishops  who  are  good  men  are  all 
bad  bishops,"  from  which  he  infers  "  that  the  very  office 
is  itself  a  curse." 

In  his  function  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  for  Re- 
ligion he  presided  at  the  investigation  of  charges  against 


44  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  ii. 

pastors,  and  in  1643  published  a  book  containing-  one 
hundred  examples  of  scandalous  clergy,  the  title  of  which 
is  "The  First  Century  of  Scandalous,  Malignant  Priests." 
This  can  be  consulted  by  visitors  to  the  British  Museum, 
in  a  volume  given  by  George  III. 

Mr.  White  was  distinguished  for  intellectual  strength. 
His  ecclesiastical  opponents  agreed  with  Lord  Clarendon 
in  acknowledging  that  "  he  was  a  grave  lawyer,"  but  con- 
sidered that  he  was  so  notoriously  disaffected  toward  the 
church  that  party  feeling  blinded  him.  His  quaint  epitaph 
in  the  Temple  Church  reads : 

Here  lieth  a  John — a  burning,  shining  light. 
His  name,  life,  actions,  were  all  White. 

It  is  an  interesting  coincidence  that  the  father  of  Samuel 
Wesley's  mother  was  John  White,  eminent,  and  a  member 
of  the  Westminster  Assembly,  and  that  the  father  of  Sus- 
annah Wesley's  mother  was  another  John  White,  also  dis- 
tinguished, and  a  member  of  the  Westminster  Assembly. 

Concerning  the  number  of  Dr.  Annesley's  children  there 
is  a  curious  anecdote,  authenticated  by  Dr.  Calamy  and 
related  by  Dunton,  with  respect  to  the  birth  of  Susannah. 
"  How  many  children  has  Dr.  Annesley?"  "  I  believe  it 
is  two  dozen,  or  a  quarter  of  a  hundred."  George  James 
Stevenson  says :  "  For  many  years  it  was  hard  to  deter- 
mine which  number  was  correct,  but  recent  research  has 
proved  that  both  are ;  she  w^as  her  father's  twenty-fifth 
child,  but  she  was  the  twenty-fourth  child  of  her  mother, 
Dr.  Annesley's  second  wife. 

Susannah  Wesley  possessed  extraordinary  ability  and 
decision  of  character.  Non-Methodist  authorities,  such  as 
Southey,  speak  of  her  as  "  an  admirable  woman,  of  highly 
improved  mind  and  a  strong  and  masculine  understand- 
ing, an  obedient  wnfe,  an  exemplary  mother,  and  a  fervent 


HER   CHARACTER.  45 

Christian."  Her  intellectuality  and  determination  were 
displayed  in  the  fact  that,  like  her  father  and  her  husband, 
"  in  early  youth  she  had  chosen  her  path." 

Much  has  been  said  justly  in  commendation  of  her,  but 
sometimes  unadvisedly,  to  the  expressed  or  implied  dis- 
paragement of  her  husband.  "  She  examined  the  contro- 
versy between  the  dissenters  and  the  Church  of  England, 
and  satisfied  herself  that  the  dissenters  were  in  the  wrong, 
thus  condemning  her  own  father  and  grandfather."  Rich- 
ard Watson,  in  his  "Life  of  John  Wesley,"  remarks: 
"  Great  as  were  her  natural  and  acquired  talents,  she  must, 
at  the  age  of  thirteen  years,  have  been  a  very  imperfect 
judge."  It  is  not,  however,  known  so  generally  that  she 
went  much  further,  and  reasoned  herself  out  of  evangel- 
ical Christianity  into  Socinianism ;  but  from  this  she  was 
reclaimed  by  the  vigorous  arguments  and  sound  learning 
of  her  husband. 

It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  the  extent  and  details  of  her 
mental  training.  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  who,  through  his  ac- 
quaintance with  John  Wesley,  enjoyed  peculiar  opportu- 
nities of  ascertaining  the  facts,  says  that  she  appears  to  have 
had  the  advantage  of  a  liberal  education  so  far  as  Latin, 
Greek,  and  French  enter  into  it.  Abundant  proofs  exist  of 
a  thoroughly  disciplined  mind,  extraordinary  penetration, 
accurate  knowledge  on  every  current  subject,  remarkable 
facility  in  theological  discussions,  and  excellent  style  as  a 
writer.  Her  letters  compare  favorably  with  those  of  the 
wisest  and  best  women  in  all  ages,  and  many  of  them 
might  be  attributed  to  the  wisest  and  best  of  men  without 
discrediting  their  just  reputation. 

Her  system  of  domestic  training  has  elicited  the  admira- 
tion of  all.  A  fact  having  an  important  bearing  upon  sub- 
sequent events  is  that  Samuel  Wesley's  wife  was  throughout 
life  a  "  Jacobite  High-church  woman,  whose  ecclesiastical 


46  'i'm-^   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  ii. 

creed  was  a  matter  of  passionate  sentiment  and  affection, 
and  was  cherished  as  warmly  under  Low-church  William 
as  during  Queen  Anne's  High-church  regime."  ^ 

She  believed  in  the  divine  right  of  kings,  and  in  the 
headship  of  the  legitimate  king  over  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. The  use  of  the  word  "  Jacobite  "  arose  from  the 
primary  manifestation  of  the  spirit  in  connection  with 
James  II.,  who  was  compelled  to  abdicate — Jacob  being 
the  Latin  form  of  James. 

Adam  Clarke  says  that  he  had  from  the  lips  of  John 
Wesley  this  anecdote:  "Were  I,"  said  John  Wesley,  "to 
write  my  own  life,  I  should  begin  it  before  I  was  born, 
merely  for  the  purpose  of  mentioning  a  disagreement  be- 
tween my  father  and  mother.  Said  my  father  to  m}- 
mother  one  day  after  family  prayer,  '  Why  did  you  not 
say  "Amen"  this  morning  to  the  prayer  for  the  king?' 
'  Because,'  said  she, '  I  do  not  believe  the  Prince  of  Orange 
to  be  the  king.'  '  If  that  be  the  case,'  said  he,  'you  and 
I  must  part ;  for  if  we  have  two  kings  we  must  have  two 
beds.'  My  mother  was  inflexible.  My  father  went  im- 
mediately to  his  study,  and  after  a  season  by  himself  set 
out  for  London,  where,  being  Convocation-man  for  the 
diocese  of  Lincoln,  he  remained  without  visiting  his  own 
house  for  the  remainder  of  the  year.  On  March  8th,  in 
the  following  year  (1702)  King  William  died,  and  as  both 
my  father  and  mother  were  agreed  as  to  the  legitimacy 
of  Queen  Anne's  title,  the  cause  of  disagreement  ceased. 
My  father  returned  to  Epworth,  and  conjugal  harmony 
was  restored." 

Mr.  Tyerman  undertakes  to  show  that  the  portion  of  this 
strange  story  which  reflects  so  severely  on  Samuel  Wesley 
cannot  be  true.     They  had  lived  together  a  dozen  years 

'  "  The  Churchmanship  of  John  Wesley,"  by  James  II.  Rigg,  D.D.  (Lon- 
don, Wesleyan  Conference  Office). 


DOMESTIC  RELATIONS  AND  INFLUENCE.  47 

since  William  and  Mary's  accession,  and  every  Sunday 
and  Friday  Samuel  Wesley  had  prayed  for  King  William. 
Quoting  a  beautiful  passage  from  a  letter  of  the  father  to  his 
son  Samuel,  he  shows  how  deeply  they  loved  each  other: 
"  Reverence  and  love  your  mother.  Though  I  should  be 
jealous  of  any  other  rival  in  your  breast,  yet  I  will  not  be 
of  her;  the  more  duty  you  pay  her,  and  the  more  fre- 
quently and  kindly  you  write  to  her,  the  more  you  will 
please  your  father."  Tyerman  assumes  the  absolute  im- 
probability of  such  a  story,  and,  entering  into  details, 
proves  that  Convocation  was  summoned  twice  in  the  year 
1 701  :  first,  February  loth  and  lasted  till  June  24th,  when 
it  was  prorogued  ;  convened  again  December  3 1  st ;  and  be- 
tween nine  and  ten  weeks  after,  when  King  William  died, 
March  8,  1702,  it  was  again  prorogued.  Further,  on  the 
14th  and  1 8th  of  May  of  that  same  year  he  finds  that  Sam- 
uel Wesley  was  at  Epworth  attending  his  wife  with  affec- 
tionate tenderness  when  she  became  the  mother  of  twins. 
He  adduces  letters  written  by  Samuel  Wesley  from  Ep- 
worth to  Archbishop  Sharpe  at  that  time,  and  thus,  as 
well  as  in  other  ways,  furnishes  satisfactory  proof  that  he 
was  not  away  from  his  family  or  charge  for  a  longer 
period  than  ten  or  twelve  weeks. 

This  incident,  doubtless,  has  a  foundation  of  truth  as 
respects  a  temporary  disagreement,  though  the  extent  of 
it  is  exaggerated.  That  its  cause  was  a  question  of  judg- 
ment and  conscience,  indicates  the  strength  of  will  which 
characterized  the  parents  of  Wesley,  and  the  influence  of 
ecclesiastical  and  civil  ideas  upon  their  characters  and 
actions. 

An  examination  of  Mrs.  Wesley's  letters,  and  a  com- 
parison of  English  and  American  writers,  justifies  Isaac 
Taylor's  estimate  :  "  The  Wesleys'  mother  was  the  mother 
of  Methodism  in  a  religious  and  moral  sense ;  for  her  cour- 


48  'J'lii-'  METiionisys.  \Q\\kv.  w 

age,  lier  submissiveness  to  authority,  the  high  tone  of  her 
mind,  its  independence  and  its  self-control,  the  warmth  of 
her  devotional  feelings  and  the  practical  direction  given  to 
them,  came  up  and  were  visibly  repeated  jn  the  character 
and  conduct  of  her  sons. 

"  When  Mrs.  Wesley,  writing  to  her  husband  concerning 
the  irregular  services  she  had  carried  on  during  his  absence 
in  the  rectory  kitchen  for  the  benefit  of  her  poor  neigh- 
bors, said,  '  Do  not  advise,  but  command  me  to  desist,' 
she  was  bringing  to  its  place  a  corner-stone  of  the  future 
Methodism.  In  this  emphatic  expression  of  a  deep  com- 
pound feeling — a  powerful  conscientious  impulse  and  a 
fixed  principle  of  submission  to  rightful  authority — there 
was  condensed  the  very  law  of  her  son's  course  as  the 
founder  and  legislator  of  a  sect."  ^ 

1  "  Wesley  and  Methodism,"  by  Isaac  Taylor  (American  edition,  Harper 
Brothers,  i860). 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE    MAN    OF    PROVIDENCE. 

Samuel  and  Susannah  Wesley  were  the  parents  of 
nnieteen  children ;  but  when  the  Epworth  rectory  was 
burned  in  February,  1709,  the  parochial  registers  were 
lost,  including  the  record  of  the  births  of  their  children. 
George  James  Stevenson  states  that  after  years  of  re- 
search eighteen  out  of  the  nineteen  have  been  found,  the 
years  and  in  most  cases  the  months  of  their  births  and 
the  months  and  years  of  their  deaths  authenticated.  The 
first  was  Samuel,  who  became  an  important  personage ; 
the  tenth  was  John,  who  died  in  the  year  of  his  birth  ;  the 
eleventh  was  Benjamin,  who  also  died  in  his  natal  year. 
The  fifteenth  was  John  Benjamin,  and  the  eighteenth, 
Charles.  It  was  the  love  of  their  mother  for  John  and 
Benjamin,  who  died  so  soon,  that  led  her  to  name  the 
next  son,  who  lived  to  be  baptized  for  both  ;  but  for  the 
reason  assigned,  no  record  exists  concerning  the  place  of 
the  birth  of  this  child.  When  a  few  hours  old  he  was 
baptized  "  John  Benjamin  "  by  his  father  at  Epworth  ;  but 
"  the  second  name  was  never  used  by  the  family,  although 
the  fact  itself  is  preserved  in  documents  belonging  to  other 
relatives." 

In  the  fire  which  destroyed  the  registers  of  the  parish  of 
Epworth,  John  Wesley,  then  six  years  old,  was  imperiled, 
and  his  escape  is  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  deliverances 
from  imminent  death  on  record.     When  Samuel  Wesley 

49 


50  'i'ifl'^   MLlTIIODIsrs.  [CHA1>.  111. 

settled  at  Epworth  the  inhabitants  of  the  place  generally 
were  given  to  profligacy,  and  his  denunciations  of  their 
sins  led  "  certain  lewd  fellows  of  the  baser  sort  "  to  attempt 
to  burn  the  rectory.  Twice  they  thought  they  had  suc- 
ceeded, but  not  till  the  third  effort  was  their  diabolical 
purpose  accomplished.  At  midnight  pieces  of  burning 
wood  fell  on  the  bed  of  one  of  the  children  and  scorched 
her  feet.  A  cry  of  fire  from  the  street  at  that  moment 
aroused  Mr.  Wesley.  Discovering  instantly  that  it  was 
his  own  house,  he  awoke  his  wife,  and,  taking  the  eldest 
girl,  burst  open  the  nursery  door  and  called  the  maid,  who 
was  sleeping  there  with  five  children.  She  caught  the 
youngest,  bidding  the  others  follow.  Three  obeyed,  but 
John  was  not  awakened,  and  in  the  excitement  was  over- 
looked ;  but  when  all  were  thought  to  be  safe  he  was  heard 
crying  in  the  nursery.  His  father  ran  to  the  stairs,  but 
they  would  not  bear  the  weight ;  he  fell  upon  his  knees  in 
the  hall  and  commended  the  soul  of  the  child  to  God. 
John,  awakened  by  the  light,  thought  it  day,  and  called 
to  the  maid  to  take  him  up.  As  no  one  came,  he  opened 
the  curtains,  and  seeing  flames,  ran  to  the  door,  but,  not 
being  able  to  escape,  climbed  upon  a  chest  which  stood 
near  the  window,  and  was  then  seen  from  the  y^ard.  No 
ladder  could  be  obtained,  but  as  the  house  was  low,  one 
man  was  hoisted  upon  the  shoulders  of  another,  reached 
the  window,  and  rescued  the  boy.  A  moment  later  the 
whole  roof  fell  in.  The  father  cried  out  to  neighbors : 
"  Let  us  kneel  down;  let  us  give  thanks  to  God!  He  has 
given  me  all  my  eight  children ;  let  the  house  go,  I  am 
rich  enough  !  "  ^ 

For  eleven  years  John  Wesley's  chief  instructor  was  his 
mother,  and  her  system  of  training  was  afterward  so  highly 
valued  by  him  that  in  1732  he  induced  her,  with  much 

1  Abridged  from  the  graphic  account  in  Southey's  "  Life  of  Wesley." 


CHILDHOOD   OF  JOHN   WESLEY.  51 

difficulty,  to  write  a  full  account  of  it.  Mrs.  Wesley  said : 
"  It  cannot  be  of  any  service  to  any  one  to  know  how  I, 
that  have  lived  such  a  retired  life  for  so  many  years,  used 
to  employ  my  time  and  care  in  bringing  up  my  children. 
No  one  can,  without  renouncing  the  world  in  a  most  literal 
sense,  observe  my  method ;  and  there  are  few,  if  any,  that 
would  entirely  devote  twenty  years  of  the  prime  of  life  in 
hope  of  saving  the  souls  of  their  children ;  for  that  was  my 
principal  intention,  however  unskillfully  managed."^ 

Mrs.  Wesley's  chief  principles  were  these :  "  At  the  age 
of  one  year  each  child  was  taught  to  fear  punishment  and 
to  cry  softly.  Nothing  for  which  it  cried  was  ever  to  be 
given  to  a  child,  on  the  ground  that  to  do  so  would  be 
a  recompense  for  crying,  and  he  would  certainly  cry  again. 
Children  were  limited  to  three  meals  a  day,  with  nothing 
between  meals.  All  were  to  be  washed  and  put  to  bed  at 
eight  o'clock,  and  on  no  account  was  a  servant  to  sit  by 
a  child  until  it  fell  asleep.  As  soon  as  they  could  speak, 
all  the  children  were  taught  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  re- 
quired to  repeat  it  every  morning  and  every  night.  Six 
hours  a  day  were  spent  at  school,  but  with  one  exception 
none  were  taught  to  read  till  five  years  of  age,  and  then 
only  a  single  day  was  allowed  for  learning  the  letters  of 
the  alphabet,  great  and  small." 

The  providential  preservation  of  John  led  his  mother  to 
devote  special  pains  to  him.  In  her  private  meditations, 
under  the  head  of  "Son  John,"  are  these  words:  "I  do 

1  The  Rev.  J.  H.  Overton,  present  rector  of  Epworth,  says  that  after 
seven  years'  residence  there  he  can  heartily  indorse  Mrs.  Wesley's  reluc- 
tance. He  shows  that  Epworth  is  isolated  geographically,  but  still  more 
ecclesiastically,  and  is  cut  ofT  from  its  own  proper  diocese  by  the  rapid  river 
Trent,  often  perilous  to  cross.  On  one  side  the  parish  touches  Yorkshire, 
but  is  chiefly  in  Lancashire.  There  could  have  been  few  neighbors  with 
whom  the  Wesleys  could  associate  on  terms  of  equality.  They  were  always 
poor,  and  when  John  Wesley  was  but  three  years  old  his  father  was  thrown 
into  jail  for  debt. 


52  THE  METHODISTS.  [CiiAr.  in. 

intend  to  be  more  particularly  careful  of  the  soul  of  this 
child,  that  Thou  hast  so  mercifully  provided  for,  than  ever 
I  have  been,  that  I  may  do  my  endeavor  to  instill  into  his 
mind  the  principles  of  Thy  true  religion  and  virtue.  Lord, 
give  me  grace  to  do  it,  sincerely  and  prudently,  and  bless 
my  attempts  with  good  success!" 

From  the  beginning  he  would  do  nothing  without  re- 
flecting on  its  fitness  and  propriety,  but  argued  about 
everything,  so  that  his  father  said  :  "  Child,  you  think  to 
carry  everything  by  dint  of  argument ;  but  you  will  find 
how  little  is  ever  done  in  the  world  by  clear  reason." 
In  this  particular  there  is  a  similarity  between  the  child- 
hood of  John  Wesley  and  that  of  William  E.  Gladstone,  who 
was  also  so  devout  in  spirit  that  his  father  admitted  him 
to  the  communion-table  when  only  eight  years  old.  An 
attack  of  smallpox  when  he  was  between  eight  and  nine 
intensified  John  Wesley's  religious  feeling,  developing  such 
patience  that  his  mother  wrote  to  his  father  that  he  had 
borne  the  disease  like  a  Christian. 

In  the  year  i  7  14  he  entered  Charterhouse  School,  in  Lon- 
don, where  pupils  were  poorly  fed.  He  suffered  special 
privations,  as  the  older  boys  had  a  habit  of  appropriating 
the  share  of  animal  food  distributed  to  the  younger;  so 
that  the  greater  part  of  the  time  bread  was  his  only  solid 
food.  But  his  health  was  excellent,  attributed  by  him  in 
after  years  to  obeying  a  command  of  his  father  "  to  run 
round  the  Charterhouse  garden  every  morning." 

According  to  his  own  testimony,  here  he  grew  less  re- 
ligious; he  thinks  that  he  sinned  away  "that  washing  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  which  he  received  in  baptism  when  he 
was  about  ten  years  of  age,"  and  remarks  concerning  his 
Charterhouse  experience  that  he  was  negligent  of  out- 
ward duties,  and  almost  continually  guilty  of  outward  sins, 
which,  to  quote  his  own  language,  "  I  knew  to  be  such, 


AT  CHARTERHOUSE   SCHOOL.  53 

though  they  were  not  scandalous  in  the  eye  of  the  world. 
However,  I  still  read  the  Scriptures  and  said  my  prayers 
morning  and  evening.  And  what  I  now  hoped  to  be 
saved  by  was  (i)  not  being  so  bad  as  other  people,  (2) 
having  still  a  kindness  for  religion,  and  (3)  reading  the 
Bible,  going  to  church,  and  saying  my  prayers." 

In  regard  to  thisTyerman  utters  the  dictum  :  "John  Wes- 
ley entered  the  Charterhouse  a  saint,  and  left  it  a  sinner." 

This  remark  Dr.  Rigg  characterizes  as  singularly  aus- 
tere. 1  "  That  is  to  say,  he  entered  it  a  saint  of  ten  years 
old,  and  left  it  a  sinner  of  seventeen.  Yet  the  language 
which  we  have  quoted  from  Mr.  Wesley,"  says  Dr.  Rigg, 
"  was  a  sentence  pronounced,  it  must  be  remembered, 
at  a  time  when  all  his  judgments  as  to  such  cases  were 
far  more  severe  than  when  revised  by  him  after  many 
years  of  experience."  He  admits  "that  he  was  at  this 
time  unconverted  there  can  be  no  doubt,"  but  believes — 
and  with  this  an  unprejudiced  mind  must  concur — that 
Mr.  Tyerman  "  uses  language  which  can  scarcely  fail  to 
convey  an  altogether  exaggerated  impression  as  to  the 
character  of  his  moral  and  spiritual  faults  and  failings." 
The  Charterhouse  School  at  that  time  was  a  collection 
of  youths  under  comparatively  little  restraint,  full  of  the 
spirit  of  the  age,  hazing,  fighting,  drinking  when  they 
could ;  and  through  that  school  "  John  Wesley  passed 
without  contracting  any  taint  of  vice." 

In  I  7 19  he  was  under  the  tuition  of  his  brother  Samuel, 
who  had  become  head  usher  of  Westminster  School. 
Samuel  was  so  much  pleased  with  his  docility  and  profi- 
ciency as  to  write  to  his  father :  "  My  brother  Jack,  I  can 
faithfully  assure  you,  gives  you  no  manner  of  discourage- 
ment from  breeding  your  third  son  a  scholar.  Jack  is  a 
brave  boy,  learning  Hebrew  as  fast  as  he  can." 

1  "  The  Living  Wesley,"  p.  55. 


54  '^'JJi^   METhODJSTS.  [Chai-.  in. 

When  he  was  seventeen  he  entered  Christ  Church  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  and  there  remained  for  five  years,  saying  his 
prayers  publicly  and  privately,  reading  the  Scriptures  and 
other  religious  books,  "  especially  comments  on  the  New 
Testament ;"  yet,  according  to  his  own  testimony,  he  "  had 
not  all  this  while  so  much  as  a  notion  of  inward  holiness ; 
nay,  went  on  habitually,  and,  for  the  most  part,  very  con- 
tentedly in  some  or  other  known  sin."  Before  the  holy 
communion,  which  he  was  required  to  take  three  times  a 
year,  there  were  some  intermissions  and  short  struggles. 
His  reputation  for  scholarship  was  high,  and  he  indulged 
somewhat  in  poetry,  selections  from  which,  being  published 
after  his  death  in  Dr.  Whitehead's  "  Lives  of  the  W'esleys," 
were  not  well  received,  being  thought  adapted  to  diminish 
the  reverence  in  which  the  name  of  John  Wesley  was  then 
held. 

His  mother,  with  much  discretion,  encouraged  him  to 
write  verses,  as  this  passage  from  a  letter  in  1724  shows: 
"  I  hope  at  your  leisure  you  will  oblige  me  with  some  more 
verses  on  any,  but  rather  on  a  religious,  subject."  She  also 
told  him  to  make  poetry  "  his  diversion,  and  not  his  busi- 
ness." His  health  became  impaired,  and  he  was  constantly 
in  debt,  the  occasion  for  which  embarrassment  it  is  not  easy 
to  understand,  since  he  received  forty  pounds  per  annum 
from  a  fund  which  guaranteed  that  sum  to  deserving 
Charterhouse  pupils. 

For  several  years  his  home  letters  contain  few  references 
to  the  subject  of  religion,  and  he  had  been  four  years  in 
Oxford  before  he  expressed  a  wish  to  become  a  minister 
of  Christ. 

On  consulting  his  parents,  a  difference  of  opinion  ap- 
peared, and  a  letter  exists,  written  by  his  mother,  which 
contains  almost  the  only  passage  that  shows  indiscretion 
in  that  remarkable  woman:  "  I  was  much  pleased  with  it 


DEVELOPMENT  IN  OXFORD.  55 

(your  letter  to  your  father  about  taking  orders),  and  liked 
the  proposal  well ;  but  it  is  an  unhappiness  almost  peculiar 
to  our  family  that  your  father  and  I  seldom  think  alike. 
I  approve  the  disposition  of  your  mind,  and  I  think  the 
sooner  you  are  a  deacon  the  better ;  because  it  may  be  an 
inducement  to  greater  application  in  the  study  of  practi- 
cal divinity.  .  .  .  Mr.  Wesley  differs  from  me,  and  would 
engage  you,  I  believe,  in  critical  learning,  which,  though 
incidentally  of  use,  is  in  no  wise  preferable  to  the  other." 
Later  his  father  pressed  him  to  enter  into  holy  orders, 
and  he  became  a  divinity  student. 

At  Oxford  he  wrote  frequently  and  in  the  most  filial 
spirit  to  his  parents,  and  sustained  an  animated  correspond- 
ence with  his  sisters. 

One  of  the  first  books  that  John  Wesley  studied  was 
that  attributed  to  Thomas  a  Kempis — "  The  Imitation  of 
Christ,"  of  which  he  wrote  to  his  mother,  who  responded 
dubiously.  He  was  also  much  impressed  by  Jeremy  Tay- 
lor's "  Holy  Living  and  Dying."  His  father  placed  a  higher 
estimate  upon  A  Kempis  than  did  his  mother,  and  expressed 
the  opinion  that,  "  making  some  grains  of  allowance,  he 
may  be  read  to  great  advantage  ;  notwithstanding  all  his 
superstition  and  enthusiasm,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  per- 
use him  seriously  without  admiring,  and  in  some  measure 
imitating,  his  heroic  strains  of  humility,  piety,  and  devo- 
tion." Jeremy  Taylor  perplexed  John  Wesley  as  to  the 
evidence  of  sins  forgiven,  and  in  the  course  of  correspond- 
ence with  his  mother  he  repudiated  the  views  of  Taylor, 
and  settled  himself  that  predestination  logically  requires 
the  conclusion  that  God  is  the  author  of  sin  and  injustice, 
expressing  the  belief  that  "it  is  a  contradiction  to  the 
clearest  ideas  that  we  have  of  the  divine  nature  and  perfec- 
tions." Speaking,  many  years  later,  of  his  spiritual  growth, 
he  said  :  "When  I  met  with  it  ["  The  Imitation  of  Christ  "], 


56  THE   METHODISTS.  \C\\\v.  in. 

the  nature  and  extent  of  inward  religion,  the  rehgion  of 
the  heart,  appeared  to  me  in  a  stronger  Hght  than  ever 
it  had  done  before."  Taylor's  "  Holy  Living  and  Dying," 
he  declares,  led  him  to  resolve  to  dedicate  his  life  to  God, 
"  being  thoroughly  convinced  there  was  no  medium  ;"  and 
he  testifies  that  he  sought  these  things  from  that  hour.  In 
the  order  of  the  development  of  John  Wesley's  thought 
concerning  the  true  Christian  life,  Jeremy  Taylor  so 
changed  his  views  that  "The  Imitation  of  Christ,"  which 
at  first  disaffected  him,  afterward  seemed  in  most  respects 
adapted  for  a  rule  of  life. 

While  pursuing  these  studies  Mr.  Wesley  met  a  religious 
friend — it  is  not  known  to  whom  he  refers — and  his  influ- 
ence united  with  that  of  these  two  great  works,  in  causing 
him  "  to  begin  to  alter  the  whole  form  of  my  [his]  conver- 
sation, and  to  set  in  earnest  upon  a  new  life." 

The  high  respect  that  Samuel  Wesley  and  his  wife  felt 
for  each  other's  intellectual  powers  cannot  be  better  shown 
than  by  two  sentences,  on  the  subject  of- settling  the  true 
doctrine  of  predestination.  Mrs.  Wesley  wrote  to  her  son  : 
"  I  will  tell  you  my  thoughts  of  the  matter;  if  they  satisfy 
not,  you  may  desire  your  father's  direction,  who  is  surely 
better  qualified  for  a  casuist  than  I."  Whereas,  in  discuss- 
ing the  principles  set  forth  by  Thomas  a  Kempis,  his  father 
wrote  to  him  to  consult  his  mother,  for  "  she  has  leisure 
to  boult  the  matter  to  the  bran." 

After  suitable  preparation  he  was  ordained  deacon  in 
the  autumn  of  1725  by  Dr.  Potter,  then  Bishop  of  Oxford, 
who  is  described  as  a  man  of  talent  and  learning,  and  a 
High-churchman  who  spoke  kindly  of  the  first  Methodists. 
Wesley  referred  to  him  in  a  sermon  written  in  I7<S7, 
thanking  Almighty  God  for  the  counsel  which  the  bishop 
had  given  him,  to  the  effect  that  if  he  wished  to  be  ex- 
tensively useful  he  must  not  spend  his  time  in  contend- 


ORDINATION  AND   FELLOWSHIP.  57 

ing  for  or  against  things  of  a  disputable  nature,  but  in  tes- 
tifying against  notorious  vice,  and  in  promoting  essential 
holiness.  He  offered  himself  for  a  fellowship  at  Lincoln 
College,  and  although  he  had  not  become  conspicuously 
strict  in  his  manner  of  life,  yet  his  religious  principles  were 
the  subject  of  satire,  and  opponents  endeavored  to  make 
him  ridiculous;  but  owing  to  his  unquestioned  scholarship 
and  universally  recognized  abilities,  his  brother  Samuel's 
powerful  influence,  and  the  friendship  of  the  rector,  he 
was  elected  fellow  in  March,  1726,  to  the  delight  of  his 
family. 

He  returned  to  Oxford  and  began  his  work  on  the  21st 
of  September.  He  had  not  yet  taken  his  inaster's  degree, 
hut  such  were  his  gifts  and  attainments  that  within  two 
months  he  was  elected  Greek  lecturer  and  moderator  of 
the  classes. 

His  methods  of  study  after  he  entered  upon  his  fellow- 
ship, as  stated  by  himself,  were :  Mondays  and  -Tuesdays 
devoted  to  Greek  and  Roman  classics,  historians,  and 
poets ;  Wednesdays  to  logic  and  ethics ;  Thursdays  to 
Hebrew  and  Arabic ;  Fridays  to  metaphysics  and  natural 
philosophy ;  Saturdays  to  oratory  and  poetry,  chiefly 
composing ;  Sundays  to  divinity.  Besides  these,  he  stud- 
ied French,  and  entertained  himself  with  experiments  in 
natural  science. 

He  made  a  study  of  William  Law's  "  Christian  Perfec- 
tion "  and  "Serious  Call,"  books  which  taught  the  neces- 
sity of  a  change  of  nature,  a  renunciation  of  the  world  and 
worldly  tempers,  self-denial,  and  mortification. 

This  author  was  a  scholar  of  renown,  a  fellow  of  Eman- 
uel College,  Cambridge,  and  officiated  for  a  time  as  curate 
in  London,  but  refused  to  take  the  oaths  prescribed  by 
the  ParHament  for  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  on 
accession  of  George  L      Obliged  on  this  account  to  leave 


c8  THE   ME'J'IIODISTS.  [CnAi-.  iii. 

the  pulpit,  he  took  a  position  as  tutor  of  Edward  Gibbon, 
father  of  the  historian.  Law  was  a  man  of  such  abihty  as 
to  afifect  profoundly  the  master  mind  of  Samuel  Johnson, 
and  produced  such  an  impression  upon  Macaulay  that  he 
expresses  surprise  that  Johnson  should  have  pronounced 
William  Law  no  reasoner;  and,  referring  to  his  controversy 
with  Bishop  Hoadley,  he  says  that  Law  "  in  mere  dialect- 
ical skill  had  few  superiors.  That  he  was  more  than  once 
victorious  over  Hoadley  no  candid  Whig  will  deny." 
Gibbon  also  commends  him  in  the  very  highest  terms, 
speaking  of  his  "  Serious  Call  "  as  a  masterpiece.  "  Many 
of  his  portraits  are  not  unworthy  of  the  pen  of  La  Bru- 
yere.  ...  A  philosopher  must  allow  that  he  exposes  with 
equal  severity  and  truth  the  strange  contradiction  between 
the  faith  and  practice  of  the  Christian  world." 

Wesley  took  his  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  February  14, 
1727,  delivering  three  orations  in  Latin — "  De  Anima 
Brutorum,"  "  De  Julio  Caesare,"  and  "  De  Amor  Dei," 
which  have  not  been  preserved. 

He  formed  a  thoroughly  ascetic  scheme  of  life,  writ- 
ing to  his  mother  that  he  had  taken  leave  of  leisure  and 
intended  to  be  busy  the  rest  of  his  life,  if  God  should 
give  him  health.  Six  times  a  week  disputations  were 
held  at  Lincoln  College,  and  over  these  John  Wesley  pre- 
sided. Though  he  had  been  a  deeply  interested  student 
of  logic,  he  attributes  to  the  discharge  of  this  function 
much  of  the  power  that  was  so  useful  in  subsequent 
years.  "T  have  since,"  said  he,  "  found  abundant  reason 
to  thank  God  for  giving  me  this  honest  art,  for  by  this, 
when  men  have  held  me  in  by  what  they  call  demonstra- 
tion. T  have  been  able  many  times  to  dash  them  in  pieces; 
and  in  spite  of  all  its  covers,  to  touch  the  very  point  where 
the  fallacy  lay,  and  it  flew  open  in  a  moment." 

From  August,  1727,  to  November,   1729,  he  officiated 


A    A^EIF  RELIGIOUS  MOVEMENT.  59 

as  his  father's  curate  at  Epworth  and  Wroote.  While 
holding  this  position  he  was  absent  about  three  months, 
and  on  the  22d  of  September,  1728,  was  ordained  priest  at 
Oxford  by  Bishop  Potter,  who  had  ordained  him  deacon. 

Wesley  would  undoubtedly  have  remained  many  years 
at  Epworth  if  the  rector  of  Lincoln  College,  who  had  ren- 
dered so  many  services  to  the  Wesley  family  that  Samuel 
Wesley  used  to  say,  "  I  can  refuse  him  nothing,"  had  not 
written  a  letter  stating  that  to  preserve  discipline  and  good 
government  "  it  was  [at  a  meeting  of  the  society  of  Lin- 
coln College],  in  the  opinion  of  all  present,  judged  necessary 
that  the  junior  fellows,  who  should  be  chosen  moderators, 
shall  in  person  attend  the  duties  of  their  office,  if  they  do  not 
prevail  with  some  of  the  fellows  to  officiate  for  them."  In 
consequence  of  this  appeal  John  Wesley  returned  to  Oxford, 
November  22,  1729,  and  there  remained  for  six  years. 

The  movement  at  Oxford  to  which  the  term  "  Metho- 
dist "  was  finally  applied  began  during  John  Wesley's  ab- 
sence at  Epworth,  and  Charles  appears  to  have  been  its 
originator.  He  attended  the  weekly  sacrament,  and  in- 
duced two  other  students,  Robert  Kirkham  and  William 
Morgan,  to  associate  with  him.  Later  George  White- 
field,  James  Hervey,  and  twelve  others,  whose  names  are 
given  by  most  of  Wesley's  biographers,  besides  a  few  who 
cannot  now  be  ascertained,  affiliated  with  them.  The  ex- 
treme strictness  of  their  conduct  excited  ridicule ;  their 
frankness  in  rebuking  sin  developed  personal  hostility ; 
they  were  spoken  of  contemptuously  as  the  "  Holy  Club," 
"  Bible  Bigots,"  "  Bible  Moths,"  the  "  Godly  Club,"  "  Su- 
pererogation Men,"  "  Sacramentalists,"  "  Methodists,"  and, 
as  Mr.  Wesley  observes  in  his  journal,  were  "  sometimes 
dignified  with  the  name  of  '  Enthusiasts '  or  the  '  Reform 
Club.'"  These  in  1735  were  known  as  Oxford  Metho- 
dists.    The  name  "  Methodist "  appears  to  have  occurred 


6o  THE   MKriIODISTS.  |(iiai'.  hi. 

sporadically  in  secular  history  and  in  earlier  Christianity. 
A  sermon  preached  in  1639  is  extant,  which  refers  to 
certain  contemporary  "  Methodists." 

The  state  of  morals  in  Oxford  and  elsewhere  was  lower 
than  it  had  ever  been.  The  Bishop  of  Lichfield  had  said 
in  1724:  "The  Lord's  day  is  now  the  devil's  market-day. 
More  lewdness,  more  drunkenness,  more  quarrels  and 
murders,  more  sin,  is  contrived  and  committed  on  this  day 
than  on  all  the  other  days  of  the  week  together.  .  .  .  Sin, 
in  general,  is  grown  so  hardened  and  rampant  as  that  im- 
moralities are  defended,  yea,  justified  on  principle.  .  .  . 
Every  kind  of  sin  has  found  a  writer  to  teach  and  vin- 
dicate it,  and  a  bookseller  and  hawker  to  divulge  and 
spread  it.''  ^ 

An  exceedingly  able  work  -  traces  the  religious  and 
moral  life  of  England  from  a  very  early  period,  showing 
the  rise,  principles,  and  growth  of  the  nonconformist  and 
dissenting  sects  until  just  before  the  rise  of  Wesleyan 
Methodism,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  author,  was  the 
darkest  period.  The  Presbyterian  congregations  suddenly 
lapsed  into  Arianism,  and  the  Presbyterian  churches  founded 
at  the  period  of  the  ejection  of  the  two  thousand  minis- 
ters, in  1662,  did  not  exist  for  more  than  fifty  years. 
Even  where  the  Presbyterian  congregations  maintained 
their  orthodoxy  their  religious  life  was  lamentable.  The 
Baptists  and  Independents,  though  not  falling  into  Arian- 
ism, lacked  leaders,  and  accomplished  but  little  in  checking 
the  general  evil  tendencies.  The  author  sums  up  his  con- 
clusion in  this  sentence  :  "  The  darkest  period  in  the  relig- 
ious annals  of  England  was  that  prior  to  the  preaching  of 
Whitefield  and  the  two  Wesley s." 

1  Tyerman,  vol.  i.,  p.  62. 

2  "  The  Inner  Life  of  the  Religious  Societies  of  the  Commonweahh,"  by 
R.  Barclay  (London). 


MORAL   DARKNESS   OF   THE   AGE.  6 1 

It  has  recently  been  suggested  that  the  testimonies  to 
the  general  immorality  of  that  age  were  of  the  nature  of 
a  fanatical  denunciation.  This  has  led  two  authors  of  the 
English  church  candidly  to  reconsider  the  subject;  and 
lest  an  extravagant  conclusion  should  be  adduced  from 
the  representation  herein  made,  the  result  of  their  investi- 
gation is  stated  •}  "  Throughout  the  whole  of  the  eighteenth 
century  almost  all  writers  who  had  occasion  to  speak  of  the 
general  condition  of  society  joined  in  one  wail  of  lament 
over  the  irreligion  and  immorality  that  they  saw  all  around 
them.  This  complaint  was  far  too  universal  to  mean  little 
more  than  a  general  and  somewhat  conventional  tirade 
upon  the  widespread  corruption  of  human  nature."  The 
authors  then  observe  that  "  even  if  the  severe  judgment 
passed  by  contemporary  writers  upon  the  spiritual  and 
moral  condition  of  their  age  may  be  fairly  qualified  by 
some  such  consideration,  it  must  certainly  be  allowed  that 
religion  and  morality  were,  generally  speaking,  at  a  lower 
ebb  than  they  have  been  at  many  other  periods." 

The  life  of  John  Wesley  was  a  continual  protest  against 
the  moral  evils  and  the  religious  laxity  of  the  time.  He 
observed  the  Wednesday  and  Friday  fasts,  tasting  no  food 
till  three  in  the  afternoon.  He  Avalked  twenty-five  miles 
a  day  in  hot  weather  as  well  as  in  cold,  and  frequently, 
with  his  brother,  would  read  as  they  walked  for  a  distance 
of  ten  or  twelve  miles. 

He  and  his  colleagues  carried  asceticism  and  devotion 
to  study  so  far  as  nearly  to  ruin  their  health.  He  set 
apart  an  hour  or  two  every  day  for  prayer,  partook  of  the 
holy  communion  weekly,  soon  became  much  more  de- 
voted, and  prayed  with  intense  feeling,  visited  prisons, 
gave  away  all  the  money  he  could  obtain,  cut  off  not  only 

1  "  The   English   Church  in  the   Eighteenth   Century,"  vol.  i.,  by  C.  J. 
Abbey  and  J.  H.  Overton. 


62  THE  METIIODISrS.  [Chap.  hi. 

superfluities,  but  many  things  deemed  by  others  necessi- 
ties, until  by  faiHng  heahh,  and  especially  by  severe  and  fre- 
quent hemorrhages,  he  was  brought  to  the  gates  of  death. 

Naturally  they  were  much  opposed.  Morgan  died  pre- 
maturely, and  Wesley  was  charged  with  being  the  cause 
of  it  by  recommending  excessive  fasting.  He  succeeded, 
however,  in  making  so  plain  a  statement  as  to  convince 
the  father  of  Mr.  Morgan  that  he  was  not  blameworthy. 
Nevertheless  Wesley's  system  at  that  time  was  such  as, 
carried  fully  and  logically  to  its  end,  would  in  many  in- 
stances lead  to  such  a  result. 

Mr.    Morgan,    in   his   weakness,   had  been   afflicted   by 

wandering  of  the  mind,  and  Samuel  Wesley  thus  refers  to 

him : 

Does  M weakly  think  his  time  misspent? 

Of  his  best  actions  can  he  now  repent? 
Others,  their  sins  with  reason  just  deplore, 
The  guilt  remaining  when  the  pleasure's  o'er ; 
Since  the  foundations  of  the  world  were  laid, 
Shall  he  for  virtue  first  himself  upbraid? 
Shall  he,  what  most  men  to  their  sins  deny, 
Show  pain  for  alms,  remorse  for  piety? 

Can  he  the  sacred  Eucharist  decline? 

What  Clement  poisons,  here  the  bread  and  wine? 

Or  does  his  sad  disease  possess  him  whole, 

And  taint  alike  his  body  and  his  soul? 

If  to  renounce  his  graces  he  decree. 

Oh,  that  he  would  transfer  the  stock  to  me! 

Alas!    enough  what  mortal  e'er  can  do 

For  Him  who  made  him  and  redeemed  him  too? 

Zeal  may  to  man  beyond  desert  be  showed ; 

No  supererogation  stands  to  God. 

The  condition  to  which  they  were  reduced  is  described 
in  graphic  manner  by  John  Wesley's  physician,  John  White- 
head, M.D.,'  and  immortalized  by  a  poem  written  privately 

1  "  Lives  of  the  Wesleys  "  (London,  1793;  reprinted  in  Boston,  1844). 


DEATH  OF  HIS  FATHER.  63 

to  his  brother  Charles  by  Samuel  Wesley,  after  a  visit  to 
Oxford,  under  date  of  April  20,  1732  : 


Oae  or  two  questions  more  before  I  end ; 
They  much  concern  a  brother  and  a  friend. 
Does  John  seem  bent  beyond  his  strength  to  go, 
To  his  frail  carcase  literally  a  foe? 
Lavish  of  health  as  if  in  haste  to  die, 
And  shorten  time  t'  ensure  eternity? 


John  Wesley's  father  died  on  the  25th  of  April,  1735. 
He  was  possessed  of  great  vivacity  and  wit,  of  a  powerful 
memory,  stored  with  all  gospel  learning.  He  has  been 
represented  as  of  a  harsh  and  stern  character;  but,  says 
Tyerman,  "  nothing  can  be  further  from  the  truth  than 
this;"  and  in  proof  of  the  statement  quotes  Miss  Wesley, 
his  granddaughter,  as  saying:  "His  children  idolized  his 
memory."  Commenting  upon  this,  his  most  elaborate 
biographer  remarks:  "  They  would  scarce  have  done  that 
if  he  had  been  ungentle  and  gruff.  It  is  true  he  kept  his 
children  in  the  strictest  order;  but  he  also  evinced  the 
greatest  tenderness,  and  thus  secured  both  the  respect  and 
love  of  his  numerous  family.  To  his  judicious  method  of 
instructing  and  managing  his  offspring  the  Methodists  owe 
an  incalculable  debt  of  gratitude." 

His  personality  was  impressed  upon  all  his  children  ;  in 
particular  upon  Samuel  and  John.  As  a  Christian  he  was 
earnest,  devout,  conscientious.  As  a  parish  minister  his 
rule  was  the  utmost  fidelity  and  the  utmost  self-sacrifice. 
The  testimonies  of  John  Wesley,  recorded  in  his  journal, 
delivered  in  his  sermons,  and  written  in  a  letter  to  his 
father,  constitute  a  tribute  of  which  few  men  are  worthy. 
A  few  months  before  his  death  he  wrote :  "  For  many 
years  you  have  diligently  fed  the  flock  committed  to  your 
care  with  the  sincere  milk  of  the  Word.      Many  of  them 


64  'J'i^f-'    MI-yJ'IIODJSTS.  [CiiAi-.  III. 

the  Great  Shepherd  has,  by  your  hand,  dehvered  from  the 
hand  of  the  destroyer,  some  of  whom  have  already  entered 
into  peace,  and  some  remain  unto  this  day.  For  myself, 
I  doubt  not  but  when  your  warfare  is  accomplished  you 
will  go  to  your  grave,  not  with  sorrow,  but  as  a  ripe  shock 
of  grain,  full  of  years  and  of  victories." 

He  recorded  in  his  journal  several  years  later  these  words 
concerning  a  visit  to  Epworth :  "  But  let  no  one  think  his 
labor  of  life  is  lost  because  the  fruit  does  not  immediately 
appear.  Near  forty  years  did  my  father  labor  here,  and  he 
saw  little  fruit  of  all  his  labof.  I  took  some  pains  among 
this  people  too,  and  my  strength  also  seemed  spent  in  vain  ; 
but  now  the  fruit  appeared." 

Dr.  John  Burton,  of  Oxford,  shortly  after  this  event 
took  great  interest  in  the  colonization  of  Georgia,  and 
urged  John  Wesley  to  become  a  missionary.  The  origin 
of  that  commonwealth  was  equally  romantic  and  philan- 
thropic. The  original  proposition  was  to  plant  a  new  col- 
ony south  of  Carolina  to  be  tilled  by  British  and  Irish 
laborers,  "without  the  dangerous  help  of  blackamoors." 
In  those  days  men  were  hanged  for  thefts,  and  in  Great 
Britain  on  the  average  four  thousand  men  were  annually 
imprisoned  for  debt.  It  was  possible  for  a  small  debt 
that  a  man  should  be  condemned  to  prison  for  life.  This 
attracted  the  attention  of  James  Oglethorpe,  a  member  of 
the  British  Parliament,  educated,  vigorous,  a  brilliant  sol- 
dier, who  in  1728  planned  an  asylum  in  America  where 
men  would  not  be  reproached  or  embarrassed  on  account 
of  previous  poverty,  and  slavery  would  be  unknown. 

On  the  9th  of  June,  1732,  George  II.  granted  a  charter 
to  Oglethorpe  and  his  associates.  Parliament  promoted 
the  scheme  by  appropriating  ten  thousand  pounds.  Many 
benevolent  persons  contributed,  and  the  Society  for  Propa- 
gating the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  took  a  deep  interest  in 


AJISSIONARY   TO    GEORGIA.  65 

it.  In  November,  1732,  Oglethorpe  embarked  with  one 
hundred  and  twenty  emigrants. 

Thus  Georgia  was  settled.  Jews  were  admitted,  but 
Roman  Catholics  excluded ;  "  the  purpose  was  a  place  of 
refuge  for  the  distressed  people  of  Britain  and  the  perse- 
cuted Protestants  of  Europe."  On  the  last  day  of  Octo- 
ber, 1733,  the  persecuted  Moravians,  being  invited  by  the 
Society  in  England  for  Propagating  the  Gospel,  emigrated 
to  Georgia.  Oglethorpe  met  them  at  Charleston,  and  five 
days  later  they  encamped  near  Savannah. 

Oglethorpe  sailed  in  April,  1 734,  for  England,  and  during 
his  absence  many  disturbances  arose.  Throughout  Eng- 
land Georgia  was  praised  in  a  famous  sermon  in  these 
words :  "  Slavery,  the  misfortune,  if  not  the  dishonor,  of 
other  plantations,  is  absolutely  proscribed.  .  .  .  The  name 
of  slavery  is  here  unheard,  and  every  inhabitant  is  free 
from  unchosen  masters  and  oppression." 

The  population  of  Georgia  prior  to  the  arrival  of  John 
Wesley  and  his  companions  had  been  made  up  by  four 
companies :  the  first  of  EngHshmen,  the  second  of  Luther- 
ans from  Saltzburg  in  Germany,  the  third  of  Scotch  High- 
landers, and  the  fourth  of  Moravians.  February  6th  a 
new  company,  of  three  hundred  emigrants,  conducted  by 
Oglethorpe,  landed  in  Georgia  ;  among  them  certain  Mora- 
vians, and  John  and  Charles  Wesley.  John  hoped  to  be- 
come not  only  a  missionary  to  the  English,  but  an  apostle 
to  the  Indians.      Charles  was  secretary  to  Oglethorpe.^ 

On  the  voyage  the  strictness  of  Wesley  and  those  who 
sympathized  with  him  was  probably  never  surpassed. 
From  four  to  five  in  the  morning  they  prayed  privately ; 
from  five  till  seven  they  read  the  Bible  together ;  at  seven 
they  breakfasted ;  at  eight  had  public  prayers  and  ex- 
pounded the  lesson  for  the  day  ;  from  nine  to  twelve  John 
1  Bancroft's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  iii. 


66  'I'JII^  MET/JODISTS.  [Chai'.  hi. 

Wesley  studied  German  and  Charles  wrote  sermons ;  at 
noon  they  met  for  prayer,  and  at  one  dined  ;  from  dinner 
until  four  they  read  or  gave  special  instruction  to  those 
willing  to  receive  it ;  at  four  they  had  evening  prayer  and 
expounded  the  lesson  ;  from  five  to  six  they  spent  in  pri\'ate 
prayer,  and  from  six  to  seven  each  read  in  his  own  cabin 
to  three  detachments  of  the  English  passengers ;  at  seven 
Wesley  joined  with  the  Moravians  in  their  service  ;  at  eight 
they  met  in  private  to  exhort  each  other,  and  between 
nine  and  ten  retired. 

A  storm  arose,  during  which  the  Moravians  were  so 
calm  and  so  ready  to  die  that  Wesley  concluded  that  he 
had  not  the  faith  which  they  possessed.  The  voyage  con- 
suming nearly  four  months,  they  were  unable  to  effect  a 
landing  until  February  5,  1736.  Upon  his  arrival  in  Geor- 
gia he  encountered  a  Moravian  elder,  Spangenberg,  who 
cross-examined  him  with  regard  to  his  religious  experience, 
with  the  effect  of  increasing  Wesley's  doubt  of  its  genuine- 
ness. 

Wesley  was  greatly  disappointed  in  not  finding  a  suit- 
able opportunity  to  preach  to  the  Indians ;  nor  were  the 
colonists  generally  willing  to  hear  him.  Not  understand- 
ing human  nature,  he  was  easily  imposed  upon,  and  was 
betrayed  and  insulted  by  those  whom  he  endeavored  to 
benefit.  He  was  unduly  severe,  unneces.sarily  provok- 
ing resistance ;  and  the  people  would  not  endure  his 
High-church  views,  for  he  made  a  matter  of  conscience  of 
many  things  not  prescribed  in  the  Bible,  withal  revealing 
his  inmost  thoughts  to  every  one  ;  and  thus  those  who  be- 
came incensed  had  abundant  material  to  kindle  and  feed 
the  flame  of  prejudice  against  him.  Daily  he  held  early 
and  also  forenoon  services,  inculcated  fasting  of  the  sever- 
est kind,  required  something  scarcely  to  be  distinguished 
from  confession  as  a  preparation  for  communion,  celebrated 


JOHN'S  DISAFFOINTMENrs  AND    CONFLICTS.         67 

the  Lord's  Supper  weekly,  refused  it  to  all  who  had  not 
been  baptized,  insisted  on  baptism  ev^en  of  infants  by  im- 
mersion, rebaptized  the  children  of  dissenters,  and  abso- 
lutely refused  to  bury  those  who  had  not  received  episco- 
pal baptism.^ 

Great  excitement  was  produced  by  his  refusing  the  holy 
communion  to  Belzius,  one  of  the  most  godly  men  in  the 
colony,  the  Lutheran  pastor  of  the  Saltzburgers.  This 
is  the  entry  on  that  subject  in  his  unpublished  journal : 
"  Sunday,  July  17,  1737.  I  had  occasion  to  make  a  very 
unusual  trial  of  the  temper  of  Mr.  Belzius,  pastor  of  the 
Saltzburgers,  in  which  he  behaved  with  such  loveliness 
and  meekness  as  became  a  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ."  In 
his  journal  for  September  30,  1749,  he  published  a  letter 
from  this  man,  received  in  the  preceding  July,  and  after 
it  writes  these  words :  "  What  a  truly  Christian  beauty  and 
simplicity  breathe  in  these  lines !  And  yet  this  very  man, 
when  I  was  at  Savannah,  did  I  refuse  to  admit  to  the 
Lord's  table  because  he  was  not  baptized ;  that  is,  not 
baptized  by  a  minister  who  had  been  episcopally  ordained. 
Can  any  one  carry  High-church  zeal  higher  than  this  ?  And 
how  well  have  I  since  been  beaten  with  mine  own  staff!" 

Notwithstanding  his  austerity,  he  paid  attentions,  look- 
ing toward  matrimony,  to  a  young  woman  not  at  all  suited 
to  him.  Whether  the  engagement  was  actually  formed, 
and,  if  so,  which  broke  it,  are  disputed  questions.  But 
subsequent  to  these  attentions,  and  after  she  had  become 
Mrs.  William  Williamson,  she  did  not,  in  his  opinion,  al- 
ways act  consistently  with  a  Christian  profession,  habitu- 
ally neglecting  some  of  the  instructions  which  Wesley  gave 
to  the  church.  In  accordance  with  his  uniform  course, 
after  private  reproof  by  letter,  on  the  first  Sunday  in  July, 
1737,  he  rebuked  her,  and  on  the  first  Sunday  in  August 
1  See  Rigg's  "  The  Living  Wesley." 


68  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  in. 

repelled  her  from  the  holy  communion.     The   next  day 
the  recorder  of  Savannah  issued  the  following  warrant : 

Georgia,  Savannah,     [ss.] 
"  To  all  constables,  titJiing-nien,  and  otJiers,  whom  these 
may  concern  : 

"  You,  and  each  of  you,  are  hereby  required  to  take  the 
body  of  John  Wesley,  clerk; 

"  And  bring  him  before  one  of  the  bailiffs  of  the  said 
town,  to  answer  the  complaint  of  William  Williamson  and 
Sophia  his  wife,  for  defaming  the  said  Sophia,  and  refusing 
to  administer  to  her  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
in  a  public  congregation,  without  cause ;  by  which  the  said 
William  Williamson  is  damaged  one  thousand  pounds 
sterling:  and  for  so  doing,  this  is  your  warrant,  certifying 
what  you  are  to  do  in  the  premises.  Given  under  my 
hand  and  seal  the  8th  day  of  August,  Anno  Dom.  1737. 

"  Tho.  Christie." 

A  grand  jury  of  forty-four  members  sat  upon  the  case. 
Of  these  Mr.  Wesley  says :  "  One  was  a  Frenchman  who 
did  not  understand  English,  one  a  Papist,  one  a  professed 
infidel,  three  Baptists,  sixteen  or  seventeen  others,  Dissent- 
ers, and  several  who  had  personal  quarrels  against  me  and 
had  openly  vowed  revenge."  A  majority  found  the  fol- 
lowing bill : 

"  That  John  Wesley,  clerk,  had  broken  the  laws  of  the 
realm,  contrary  to  the  peace  of  our  sovereign  lord  the 
king,  his  crown  and  dignity : 

"I.  By  speaking  and  writing  to  Mrs.  Williamson, 
against  her  husband's  consent. 

"  2.   By  repelling  her  from  the  holy  communion. 

"  3.  By  not  declaring  his  adherence  to  the  Church  of 
England. 


INDICTED  BY  GRAND  lURY.  69 

"  4.   By  dividing  the  Morning  service  on  Sundays. 

"  5.  By  refusing  to  baptize  Mr.  Parker's  child,  otherwise 
than  by  dipping,  except  the  parents  would  certify  it  was 
weak  and  not  able  to  bear  it. 

"  6.  By  repelling  William  Gough  from  the  holy  com- 
munion. 

"  7.  By  refusing  to  read  the  Burial  service  over  the 
body  of  Nathaniel  Polhill. 

"  8.   By  calling  himself  Ordinary  of  Savannah. 

"  9.  By  refusing  to  receive  William  Aglionby  as  a  god- 
father only  because  he  was  not  a  communicant. 

"  10.  By  refusing  Jacob  Matthews  for  the  same  reason; 
and  baptizing  an  Indian  trader's  child  with  only  two 
sponsors." 

Commenting  on  the  tenth  specification,  Mr.  Wesley 
wrote  in  his  journal :  "  This,  I  own,  was  wrong ;  for  I 
ought,  at  all  hazards,  to  have  refused  baptizing  it  till  he 
had  procured  a  third." 

Twelve  of  the  grand  jurors,  of  whom  three  were  con- 
stables and  six  tithing-men,  refused  to  sign  the  present- 
ment, giving  the  following  reasons  : 

"  Whereas  two  presentments  have  been  made,  the  one 
of  August  23d,  the  other  of  August  31st,  by  the  grand 
jury  for  the  town  and  county  of  Savannah,  in  Georgia, 
against  John  Wesley,  clerk ; 

"  We,  whose  names  are  underwritten,  being  members  of 
the  said  grand  jury,  do  humbly  beg  leave  to  signify  our 
dislike  of  the  said  presentments ;  being,  by  many  and 
divers  circumstances,  thoroughly  persuaded  in  ourselves 
that  the  whole  charge  against  Mr.  Wesley  is  an  artifice  of 
Mr.  Causton's,  designed  rather  to  blacken  the  character  of 
Mr.  Wesley  than  to  free  the  colony  from  religious  tyranny, 
as  he  was  pleased,  in  his  charge  to  us,  to  term  it.  But  as 
these   circumstances  will  be   too   tedious  to  trouble  your 


70  THE   METHODISTS.  [CiiAi".  111. 

lienors  with,  we  shall  onl)-  beg  leave  to  give  the  reasons 
of  our  dissent  from  the  particular  bills. 

"  With  regard  to  the  first  bill,  we  do  not  apprehend  that 
Mr.  Wesley  acted  against  any  law  by  writing  or  speaking 
to  Mrs.  W'illiamson,  since  it  does  not  appear  to  us  that  the 
said  Mr.  Wesley  has  either  spoke  in  private  or  wrote  to 
the  said  Mrs.  Williamson  since  March  12th  (the  day  of 
her  marriage),  except  one  letter  of  July  5th,  which  he 
wrote  at  the  request  of  her  uncle,  as  a  pastor,  to  exhort 
and  reprove  her. 

"  The  second  we  do  not  apprehend  to  be  a  true  bill ; 
because  we  humbly  conceive  Mr.  Wesley  did  not  as- 
sume to  himself  any  authority  contrary  to  law ;  for  we 
understand,  '  Every  person  intending  to  communicate, 
should  signify  his  name  to  the  curate  at  least  some  time 
the  day  before;'  which  Mrs.  Williamson  did  not  do, 
although  Mr.  Wesley  had  often,  in  full  congregation,  de- 
clared he  did  insist  on  a  compliance  with  that  rubric, 
and  had  before  repelled  divers  persons  for  non-compliance 
therewith. 

"  The  third  we  do  not  think  a  true  bill ;  because  several 
of  us  have  been  his  hearers  when  he  has  declared  his  ad- 
herence to  the  Church  of  England  in  a  stronger  manner 
than  by  a  formal  declaration  :  by  explaining  and  defending 
the  Apostles',  the  Nicene,  and  the  Athanasian  creeds,  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  the  whole  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
and  the  Homilies  of  the  .said  church  ;  and  because  we  think 
a  formal  declaration  is  not  required  but  from  those  who 
have  received  institution  and  induction. 

"  The  fact  alleged  in  the  fourth  bill  we  cannot  apprehend 
to  be  contrary  to  any  law  in  being. 

"The  fifth  we  do  not  think  a  true  bill;  because  we  con- 
ceive Mr.  Wesley  is  justified  by  the  rubric,  viz.,  '  If  they 
(the  parents)  certify  that  the  child  is  weak,  it  shall  suf^ce 


THE  REASONS   EOR   REEUSAL    TO   SIGN.  7 1 

to  pour  water  upon  it;'  intimating  (as  we  humbly  sup- 
pose) it  shall  not  suffice  if  they  do  not  certify. 

"  The  sixth  cannot  be  a  true  bill ;  because  the  said  Wil- 
liam Gough,  being  one  of  our  members,  was  surprised  to 
hear  himself  named  without  his  knowledge  or  privity,  and 
did  publicly  declare  it  was  no  grievance  to  him,  because 
the  said  John  Wesley  had  given  him  reasons  with  which 
he  was  satisfied. 

"  The  seventh  we  do  not  apprehend  to  be  a  true  bill ; 
for  Nathaniel  Polhill  was  an  Anabaptist,  and  desired  in 
his  Hfetime  that  he  might  not  be  interred  with  the  office 
of  the  Church  of  England.  And  further,  we  have  good 
reason  to  believe  that  Mr.  Wesley  was  at  Frederica,  or  on 
his  return  thence,  when  Polhill  was  buried. 

"  As  to  the  eighth  bill  we  are  in  doubt,  as  not  well 
knowing  the  meaning  of  the  word  '  Ordinary.'  But  for 
the  ninth  and  tenth  we  think  Mr.  Wesley  is  sufficiently 
justified  by  the  canons  of  the  church,  which  forbid  '  any 
person  to  be  admitted  godfather  or  godmother  to  any 
child  before  the  said  person  has  received  the  holy  com- 
munion ' ;  whereas  William  Aglionby  and  Jacob  Matthews 
had  never  certified  Mr.  Wesley  that  they  had  received  it." 

There  was  a  fatal  legal  defect  in  the  composition  of  the 
grand  jury,  yet  as  Mr.  Causton,  Mrs.  Williamson's  uncle, 
was  the  chief  magistrate,  it  was  impossible  for  Mr.  Wesley 
to  secure  a  trial.  He  appeared  at  six  or  seven  courts  suc- 
cessi\-ely,  but  in  vain  ;  until,  convinced  that  he  could  not 
obtain  justice,  he  determined  to  go  back  to  England,  if  he 
could  find  opportunity  to  do  so,  and  lay  the  matter  before 
General  Oglethorpe. 

The  account  in  his  journal  of  his  adventures  is  as  thrill- 
ing as  narratives  of  the  most  celebrated  explorers,  but  not 
more  so  than  the  delineation  of  his  spiritual  experiences. 

He  hoped,  however,  to  return,  as  his  journal  for  January 


-J 2  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  hi. 

22,  1738,  contains  this  entry  :  "  I  took  my  leave  of  Amer- 
ica (though,  if  it  please  God,  not  forever)."  So  lofty  was 
Wesley's  ideal  that  he  considered  his  mission  to  Georgia  a 
failure ;  but  when  George  Whitefield  arrived  there  some 
months  after  Wesley  returned  to  England,  he  found  rea- 
son to  write  in  his  journal :  "  The  good  that  Mr.  John 
Wesley  has  done  in  America  is  inexpressible.  His  name 
is  very  precious  among  the  people ;  and  he  has  laid  a 
foundation  that  I  hope  neither  men  nor  devils  will  ever  be 
able  to  shake.  Oh  that  I  may  follow  him  as  he  has  fol- 
lowed Christ! " 

On  the  voyage  Mr.  Wesley  wrote :  "  I  went  to  America 
to  convert  the  Indians ;  but  oh,  who  shall  convert  me  ? 
...  It  is  now  two  years  and  almost  four  months  since  I 
left  my  native  country  in  order  to  teach  the  Georgian  In- 
dians the  nature  of  Christianity  ;  but  what  have  I  learned 
myself  in  the  meantime  ?  Why  (what  I  the  least  of  all 
suspected),  that  I  who  went  to  America  to  convert  others 
was  never  myself  converted  to  God."  This  is  part  of  a 
general  description  of  Wesley's  spiritual  condition  as  he 
then  estimated  it ;  but  many  years  later  he  inserted 
after  the  words  just  quoted:  "  I  am  not  sure  of  this."  At 
another  point  where  he  had  expressed  doubts  as  to  whether 
he  was  a  Christian  he  adds  a  foot-note :  "  I  had  even  then 
the  faith  of  a  servant,  though  not  of  a  sony  And  after 
declaring  himself  "a  child  of  wrath"  he  writes  this:  "I 
believe  not."  ^ 

1  Wesley's  "  Works,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  56,  American  edition. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

GENESIS   AND    GROWTH    OF    METHODISM. 

Landing  at  Deal,  England,  February  i,  1738,  John 
Wesley  hastened  to  London.  That  he  had  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  the  Moravians,  and  acquired  the  German, 
Spanish,  and  Italian  tongues  so  that  he  could  read  and 
speak  them,  seemed  to  him  a  sufficient  compensation  for 
all  his  hardships.  On  the  4th  he  preached  in  the  Church 
of  St.  John  the  Evangelist  from  the  text,  "  If  any  man  be 
in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature,"  and  records  :  "  I  was  after- 
ward informed  that  many  of  the  best  in  the  parish  were 
so  offended  that  I  was  not  to  preach  there  any  more." 

On  the  7th  of  February  he  met  Peter  Bohler,  and  ever 
after  regarded  the  meeting  as  a  turning-point  in  his  spir- 
itual development.  This  devout  Moravian  taught  him 
what  faith  is  and  what  are  its  fruits.  For  some  days  his 
conversations  with  Bohler  were  frequent;  and  on  the  22d 
of  April  the  subject  of  instantaneous  conversion  was  con- 
sidered, and  by  the  arguments  of  Bohler,  the  teachings  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  the  testimony  of  certain  witnesses,  the 
eyes  of  John  Wesley  were  opened  to  see  that  such  con- 
version is  possible. 

Peter  Bohler,  nine  years  younger  than  John  Wesley,  was 
a  native  of  Frankfort,  Germany,  and  was  educated  at  the 
University  of  Jena,  where  he  afterward  studied  theology. 
He  became  a  Moravian  at  sixteen,  and  was  ordained  by  Zin- 
zendorf  at  twenty- five.  He  was  on  his  way  to  Carolina 
when  he  met  Wesley  in  London.     At  that  time  he  knew 

73 


74  J'iiJ^   METHODISTS.  [CiiAi'.  iv. 

no  English,  and  Charles  Wesley  gave  him  his  first  lessons. 
In  the  Moravian  meetings  he  spoke  in  Latin,  a  learned 
tailor  interpreting  his  addresses. 

Bohler,  after  these  conversations,  in  a  letter  to  Zinzen- 
dorf,  analyzed  John  Wesley,  stating  that  he  was  "  a  good- 
natured  man,  knew  he  did  not  properly  believe  on  the 
Saviour,  and  was  willing  to  be  taught."  He  affirmed  that 
of  faith  in  Jesus  "  Wesley  had  no  other  idea  than  the  gen- 
erality of  people  had.  They  justify  thcuiselves,  and  there- 
fore they  always  take  it  for  granted  that  they  believe  al- 
ready, and  try  to  prove  their  faith  by  their  works,  and 
thus  so  plague  and  torment  themselves  that  they  are  at 
heart  very  miserable."  The  "Methodist  Magazine"  for 
1854  contains  much  of  interest  on  this  subject. 

Confident  of  his  sincerity,  Bohler  advised  him  to  "  preach 
faith  until  he  experienced  it."  On  the  7th  of  Ma\-  he 
spoke  in  two  different  churches,  and  in  each  was  informed 
that  he  could  not  be  allowed  to  occupy  the  pulpit  again. 
On  the  9th  he  was  heard  with  the  same  result,  and  this 
followed  wherever  he  appeared. 

During  the  greater  part  of  this  time  he  was  continually 
sad  because  he  felt  under  condemnation. 

His  journal  contains  an  epitome  of  his  religious  life,  cul- 
minating in  a  spiritual  change  destined  to  become  the  soul 
of  Methodism : 

"  When  I  met  Peter  Bohler  again,  he  consented  to  put 
the  dispute  upon  the  issue  which  I  desired,  namely.  Scrip- 
ture and  experience.  I  first  consulted  the  Scripture.  But 
when  I  set  aside  the  glosses  of  men,  and  simply  considered 
the  words  of  God,  comparing  them  together,  endeavoring 
to  illustrate  the  obscure  by  the  plainer  passages,  I  found 
they  all  made  against  me,  and  was  forced  to  retreat  to  my 
last  hold, '  that  experience  would  never  agree  with  the  lit- 
eral interpretation  of  those  Scriptures.     Nor  could  I,  there- 


IVESLEY  EMERGES  INTO  LIGHT.  75 

fore,  allow  it  to  be  true,  till  I  found  some  living  witnesses 
of.it.'  He  replied,  he  could  show  me  such  at  any  time; 
if  I  desired  it,  the  next  day.  And,  accordingly,  the  next 
day  he  came  again  with  three  others,  all  of  whom  testified, 
of  their  own  personal  experience,  that  a  true  living  faith 
in  Christ  is  inseparable  from  a  sense  of  pardon  for  all  past, 
and  freedom  from  all  present,  sins.  They  added  with  one 
mouth  that  this  faith  was  the  gift,  the  free  gift,  of  God, 
and  that  he  would  surely  bestow  it  upon  every  soul  who 
earnestly  and  perseveringly  sought  it.  I  was  now  thor- 
oughly convinced ;  and  by  the  grace  of  God  I  resolved  to 
seek  it  unto  the  end:  (i)  By  absolutely  renouncing  all 
dependence,  in  whole  or  in  part,  upon  Jiiy  ozvn  works  or 
righteousness ;  on  which  I  had  really  grounded  my  hope 
of  salvation,  though  I  knew  it  not,  from  my  youth  up. 
(2)  By  adding  to  the  constant  use  of  all  the  other  means 
of  grace  continual  prayer  for  this  very  thing — justifying, 
saving  faith ;  a  full  reliance  on  the  blood  of  Christ  shed 
for  me ;  a  trust  in  him  as  my  Christ,  as  my  sole  justifica- 
tion, sanctification,  and  redemption. 

"  I  continued  thus  to  seek  it  (though  with  strange  in- 
difference, dullness,  and  coldness,  and  unusually  frequent 
relapses  into  sin)  till  Wednesday,  May  24th.  I  think  it 
was  about  five  this  morning  that  I  opened  my  Testament 
on  those  words  :  '  There  are  given  unto  us  exceeding  great 
and  precious  promises ;  even  that  ye  should  be  partakers 
of  the  divine  nature  '  (2  Pet.  i.  4).  Just  as  I  went  out  I 
opened  it  again  on  those  words :  '  Thou  art  not  far  from 
the  kingdom  of  God.'  In  the  afternoon  I  was  asked  to  go 
to  St.  Paul's.  The  anthem  was:  '  Out  of  the  deep  have  I 
called  unto  thee,  O  Lord.  Lord,  hear  my  voice :  O  let 
thine  ears  consider  well  the  voice  of  my  complaint.  If  thou. 
Lord,  wilt  be  extreme  to  mark  what  is  done  amiss,  O  Lord,- 
who  may  abide  it?     For  there  is  mercy  with  thee;  there- 


76  Tin-:  Methodists.  [Qww.  n. 

fore  shalt  thou  be  feared.  O  Israel,  trust  in  the  Lord :  for 
with  the  Lord  there  is  mercy,  and  with  him  is  plenteous 
redemption.    And  he  shall  redeem  Israel  from  all  his  sins.' 

"  In  the  evening  I  went  very  unwillingly  to  a  society  in 
Aldersgate  Street,  where  one  was  reading  Luther's  preface 
to  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  About  a  quarter  before 
nine,  while  he  was  describing  the  change  which  God 
works  in  the  heart  through  faith  in  Christ,  I  felt  my  heart 
strangely  warmed.  I  felt  I  did  trust  in  Christ,  Christ 
alone,  for  salvation ;  and  an  assurance  was  given  me  that 
he  had  taken  away  my  sins,  even  viiiie,  and  saved  me  from 
the  law  of  sin  and  death. 

"  I  began  to  pray  with  all  my  might  for  those  who  had 
in  more  especial  manner  despitefully  used  me  and  perse- 
cuted me.  I  then  testified  openly  to  all  there  what  I  now 
first  felt  in  my  heart.  But  it  was  not  long  before  the 
enemy  suggested,  '  This  cannot  be  faith,  for  where  is  thy 
joy?'  Then  was  I  taught  that  peace  and  victory  over  sin 
are  essential  to  faith  in  the  Captain  of  our  salvation ;  but 
that,  as  to  the  transports  of  joy  that  usually  attend  the  be- 
ginning of  it,  especially  in  those  who  have  mourned  deeply, 
God  sometimes  giveth,  sometimes  withholdeth  them,  ac- 
cording to  the  counsels  of  his  own  will." 

On  the  1 3th  of  June,  Wesley,  with  several  companions, 
began  a  journey  to  Herrnhut,  the  chief  settlement  of  the 
Moravians,  by  way  of  Rotterdam  and  Amsterdam  to  Co- 
logne, whence  they  embarked  on  the  Rhine,  traveling  in  a 
boat  drawn  by  horses  four  days  and  nights  to  Mayence. 
At  Frankfort,  not  being  provided  with  passports,  they 
were  not  allowed  to  enter  the  city ;  but,  aware  that  Peter 
Bohler's  father  lived  there,  they  sought  his  interposition 
and  were  admitted.  Thence  they  proceeded  to  the  old 
castle  at  Ronneburg,  the  abode  of  Count  Zinzendorf,  where 
they  remained  two  weeks. 


IN  HERRNHUT.  yj 

While  treated  with  kindness,  Wesley  was  not  allowed 
to  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  reasons  given 
were  these  :  "  First,  the  congregation  saw  him  to  be  homo 
pertjwbatus,  and  that  his  head  had  gained  an  ascendency- 
over  his  heart.  Second,  they  thought  that  communing  with 
them  might  interfere  with  the  plan  which  he  had  formed 
of  doing  good  as  a  clergyman  of  the  English  church, 
which  plan  they  approved."  ^ 

On  the  1st  of  August  Wesley  arrived  at  Herrnhut,  about 
thirty  English  miles  from  Dresden,  in  Upper  Lusatia,  on 
the  border  of  Bohemia.  This  settlement  of  Moravians  had 
been  formed  in  1722.  "  Herrnhut,"  the  name  which  they 
gave  to  it,  signifies  "  the  watch  of  the  Lord."  By  i  727  the 
settlement  had  a  population  of  five  hundred,  and  public 
notice  had  been  attracted  to  them  in  England  a  year  or 
so  before  the  arrival  of  John  Wesley.  Count  Zinzendorf, 
who  regarded  Wesley  as  a  pupil,  spent  much  time  in  Eng- 
land, and  died  in  Chelsea  in  i  760. 

When  Wesley  arrived  at  the  settlement  there  were 
about  a  hundred  dwellings,  an  orphan  house,  and  a  chapel. 
Here  he  heard  Christian  David,  the  founder  of  the  settle- 
ment, who  five  years  before  had  guided  the  first  mission- 
aries to  Greenland.  It  was  his  success — though  a  mechanic 
without  education,  never  having  seen  a  Bible  until  he  was 
twenty  years  old,  and  to  that  time  a  bigoted  Roman 
Catholic — which  prepared  Wesley  at  a  later  period  to  esti- 
mate at  their  proper  relative  value  the  itinerant  evangel- 
ist full  of  zeal  and  spiritual  power,  and  the  student,  cold, 
reserved,  dialectical,  strong  in  the  letter,  but  weak  in  the 
spirit. 

While  here,  Wesley,  though  much  encouraged,  was  for 
a  time  led  into  a  form  of  mystical  antinomianism,  and 
also  confounded  the  witness  of  the  Spirit  with  sancti- 
1  Hutton's  "  Memoirs,"  quoted  by  Tyerman. 


78  TJIE  METHODISTS.  [Chai'.  iv. 

fication.  Yet  he  soon  doubted  whether  the  sentiments 
of  his  new  friends  on  certain  essential  points  were  Scrip- 
tural, and  was  finally  constrained  to  analyze  the  views  and 
the  personal  claims  of  Count  Zinzendorf  with  a  frankness 
which  can  hardly  be  distinguished  from  severity.  A  painful 
controversy  distracted  the  minds  of  those  who  at  first  affili- 
ated. The  best  statement  of  the  change  in  Wesley's  point 
of  view,  as  the  result  of  acquaintance  with  the  Moravians, 
is  to  be  found  in  "John  Wesley,"  by  Julia  Wedgwood: 
"  Adherence  to  the  church  was  no  longer  the  first  condi- 
tion of  membership  in  any  society  with  which  he  was  as- 
sociated. The  birthday  of  a  Christian  was  already  shifted 
from  his  baptism  to  his  conversion,  and  in  that  change  the 
partition-line  of  two  great  systems  is  crossed." 

There  had  been,  in  various  parts  of  London  and  vicin- 
ity, certain  societies,  small  assemblies,  consisting  chiefly  of 
members  of  the  Established  Church,  who  met  in  private 
houses,  and  frequently  took  their  name  from  the  house 
in  which  they  were  held.  Such  was  the  one  in  Alders- 
gate  Street  where  Wesley  had  found  spiritual  rest.  On 
his  return  from  Germany  Wesley  went  to  and  fro, 
speaking  in  these  societies  wherever  he  could  obtain  a 
hearing,  and  naturally  became  the  most  influential  among 
them. 

About  this  time,  George  Whitefield,  who  had  been 
preaching  in  America,  returned  and  sought  a  meeting  with 
Wesley.  He  had  already  attained  an  extraordinary  repu- 
tation, and  had  begun  to  speak  in  the  open  air.  Wesley 
had  difficulty  in  adapting  himself  to  that  method,  and  in 
referring  to  the  subject  said:  "I  could  scarce  reconcile 
myself  to  this  strange  way  of  preaching  in  the  fields, 
to  which  he  [WhitefieldJ  .set  me  the  example  on  Sunday, 
having  been  all  my  life  till  very  lately  so  tenacious  of 
every  point   relating  to  decency  and  order  that  I  should 


PR  EACH  I XG    THE  NEW  EVANGEL.  79 

have  thought  the  saving  of  souls  almost  a  sin  if  it  had  not 
been  done  in  a  church." 

Wesley's  recent  return  from  Georgia  contributed 
greatly  to  the  number  of  his  hearers,  of  which  he  took 
advantage,  proclaiming  the  gospel  according  to  his  new- 
views  with  unparalleled  energy  and  unction.  Although 
not  allowed  a  second  time  in  the  churches,  the  first  mes- 
sage was  always  efifective  in  the  illumination  of  some 
hearers. 

In  defending  himself  for  holding  services  in  the  open 
air  he  says:  "  Be  pleased  to  observe:  (i)  That  I  was  for- 
bidden as  by  a  general  consent  to  preach  in  any  church 
(though  not  by  any  judicial  sentence)  for  preaching  such 
doctrine ;  this  was  the  open,  avowed  cause ;  there  was 
at  that  time  no  other,  either  real  or  pretended,  except 
that  the  people  crowded  so.  (2)  That  I  had  no  desire  or 
design  to  preach  in  the  open  air  till  after  this  oppression." 

For  such  preaching  Charles  Wesley  was  cited  to  Lam- 
beth and  threatened  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
with  excommunication.  Though  somewhat  intimidated, 
encouraged  by  Whitefield,  he  preached  the  very  next 
Sunday  at  Moorfields  ^  to  ten  thousand,  and  at  two  other 
points  on  the  same  day. 

From  this  time  Wesley  preached  almost  incessantly. 
Every  morning  he  read  prayers  and  preached,  reading 
and  expounding  the  Scriptures  also  in  one  or  more  of  the 
societies  every  evening;  on  Monday,  Tuesday,  Wednes- 
day, and  Friday  in  several  contiguous  places  ;  on  Saturday 
in  the  afternoon  ;  on  Sunday  in  the  early  morning,  again  at 
eleven,  at  two,  and  at  five,  traveling  many  miles  between 
these  services.  His  brother  Charles  and  several  others 
were  following  a  similar  order. 

1  A  district  outside  the  wall  of  old  London  used  for  recreation.  The 
ground  is  now  occupied  by  Finsbury  Square  and  adjacent  streets. 


8o  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  iv. 

In  England  Wesley  and  Whitefield  had  not  entered 
into  the  discussion  of  doctrinal  opinions.  But  while  in 
the  colonies  the  latter  became  acquainted  with  Calvinistic 
ministers  of  equal  learning  and  ability,  who  recommended 
to  him  the  study  of  the  Puritan  divines,  with  the  result 
that  he  embraced  their  doctrines  with  ardor.  He  wrote  to 
Wesley  upon  the  subject,  who  replied  opposing  the  doc- 
trine of  election,  and  also  affirming  the  doctrine  of  "  Chris- 
tian perfection,"  teaching  that  "  Christians  cannot,  indeed, 
be  freed  from  those  perilous  weaknesses  and  follies  some- 
times improperly  termed  sins  of  infirmity,  yet  that  it  isjhe 
privilege  of  all  to  be  saved  entirely  from  sin  in  its  proper 
sense,  and  from  committing  it." 

The  correspondence,  while  revealing  the  intensity  of  the 
excitement  among  the  people,  and  the  stern  earnestness 
of  these  godly  men,  also  displays  their  sincerity  and  con- 
scientiousness. Whitefield,  in  a  letter  to  Wesley,  says: 
"  The  more  I  examine  the  writings  of  the  most  experienced 
men,  and  the  experiences  of  the  most  established  Chris- 
tians, the  more  I  differ  from  your  opinion  about  not  com- 
mitting sin,  and  your  denying  the  doctrines  of  election  and 
the   final    perseverance   of   the   saints.   .   .   .   God   himself 

teaches  my  friends  the  doctrine  of  election.     Sister  H 

hath  lately  been  convinced  of  it ;  and  if  I  mistake  not,  dear 
and  honored  Mr.  Wesley  will  hereafter  be  convinced  also. 
Perhaps  I  may  never  see  you  again  until  we  meet  in  judg- 
ment;  then,  if  not  before,  you  will  know  that  sovereign, 
distinguishing,  irresistible  grace  brought  you  to  heaven." 

To  this  Wesley  responded  : 

"  My  dear  Brother  :  I  thank  you  for  yours  of  May 
24th.  The  case  is  quite  plain.  There  are  bigots  both  for 
predestination  and  against  it.  God  is  sending  a  message 
to  those  on  either  side,  but  neither  will  receive  it  unless 


CONTROVERSY    WITH    IVHITEFIELD.  8 1 

from  one  who  is  of  their  own  opinion.    Therefore  for  a  time 
you  are  suffered  to  be  of  one  opinion  and  I  of  another," 

Again  Whitefield  wrote : 

"  I  know  not  what  you  may  think,  but  I  do  not  expect 
to  say  indwelhng  sin  is  destroyed  in  me  till  I  bow  my  head 
and  give  up  the  ghost.  .  .  .  Besides,  dear  sir,  what  a  fine 
conceit  is  it  to  cry  up  perfection  and  yet  cry  down  the  doc- 
trine of  final  perseverance!  But  this  and  many  other  ab- 
surdities you  will  run  into  because  you  will  not  own  elec- 
tion, and  you  will  not  own  election  because  you  cannot  own 
it  without  believing  the  doctrine  of  reprobation.  What, 
then,  is  there  in  reprobation  so  horrid  ?  I  see  no  blasphemy 
in  holding  that  doctrine,  if  rightly  explained.  If  God 
might  have  passed  by  all,  he  may  pass  by  some.  ...  If 
you  go  on  thus,  honored  sir,  how  can  I  agree  with  you  ? 
It  is  impossible.  I  must  speak  what  I  know.  By  spring 
you  may  expect  to  see 

"  Ever,  ever  yours, 

"  George  Whitefield." 

Finding  himself  opposed  whenever  he  preached  free 
grace,  and  the  people  helplessly  divided,  Wesley  delivered 
his  famous  sermon  entitled  "  Free  Grace,"  and  published 
it  in  a  pamphlet  of  twenty-four  pages,  annexing  a  hymn  by 
his  brother  entitled  "  Hymn  of  Universal  Redemption." 

The  circumstances  were  these  which  led  Wesley  to 
take  a  public  attitude  against  the  doctrine  of  election :  In 
one  of  the  London  societies  an  advocate  persisted  in  de- 
bating it  in  the  meetings  held  for  growth  in  grace,  and 
Charles  Wesley,  who  was  in  charge,  forbade  him  to  be  ad- 
mitted. When  his  brother  arrived  the  disputant  appeared 
and  demanded  if  he  had  been  excluded  for  his  opinion. 
"  Which  opinion?  "  asked  Wesley.     "  That  of  election.     I 


82  JUi'-    METJJODJSTS.  (.Ciiai-.  iv. 

hold  that  a  certain  number  are  elected  from  eternity,  and 
they  must  and  shall  be  saved,  and  the  rest  of  mankind 
must  and  shall  be  damned."  He  told  Wesley  that  others 
in  the  society  so  believed,  to  which  Wesley  replied  that 
he  never  questioned  their  opinions ;  all  he  demanded  was 
that  they  should  "  only  not  trouble  others  by  disputing 
about  them."  But  the  contentious  brother  answered: 
"  No,  but  I  will  dispute  about  them.  You  are  all  wrong, 
and  I  am  determined  to  set  you  right."  Under  these 
circumstances  Wesley  replied :  "  I  fear  your  coming  with 
this  view  will  neither  profit  you  nor  us." 

The  school  at  Kingswood  had,  in  a  certain  sense,  been 
founded  by  Whitefield,  who  had  laid  the  corner-stone,  but 
immediately  left  the  institution  to  the  management  of 
Wesley,  who  bought  the  ground  and  paid  for  the  building, 
partly  through  the  contributions  of  his  friends,  and  partly 
from  the  income  of  his  fellowship.  He  employed  John 
Cennick  as  teacher,  and  authorized  him  to  read  and  expound 
the  Bible  to  a  society  which  Wesley  gathered  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. 

Cennick,  however,  publicly  attacked  in  that  society 
the  Arminian  views  of  Wesley.  He  also  wrote  many  let- 
ters to  Whitefield,  and  demanded  of  Wesley  that  he  and 
his  adherents  be  allowed  to  retain  their  membership  and 
have  the  privilege  of  "meeting  apart."  This  resulted  in 
a  division  of  the  society,  fifty  adhering  to  Cennick  and 
ninety  to  Wesley.  Cennick  and  his  friends  declared  that 
they  were  expelled  for  holding  the  doctrine  of  election. 
Wesley  retorted  that  they  knew  that  was  not  the  case,  as 
there  were  predestinarians  in  the  societies  in  London  and 
Bristol,  nor  did  he  "  ever  yet  put  any  one  out  of  either  be- 
cause he  held  that  opinion."  It  was  this  division  and  the 
continued  controversy  which  led  Wesley  to  preach  against 
the  doctrine  publicly. 


ISSUE    WITH   CALVINISM  ACCENTUATED.  83 

In  1 740  Whitefield  wrote  to  Wesley : 

"  My  dear  Brother:  For  Christ's  sake,  avoid  all  dis- 
putation. Do  not  oblige  me  to  preach  against  you ;  I  had 
rather  die." 

But  on  his  return  to  England  in  1741  he  published  a 
pamphlet  which  contained  a  letter  from  Wesley,  who  com- 
plained against  this,  remarking  that  if  Whitefield  was  con- 
strained to  bear  his  testimony  on  the  general  subject,  he 
might  have  done  it  by  issuing  a  treatise  without  calling 
his  name  in  question ;  that  he  had,  however,  said  enough 
of  what  was  wholly  foreign  to  the  question  to  make  an 
open,  and,  he  feared,  an  irreparable  breach.  He  then 
proceeded  to  show  him  how  easy  it  would  be  for  him  to 
answer  Whitefield,  but  that  he  would  not  do  so.  Wesley 
affirmed  subsequently  that  "  those  who  believed  universal 
redemption  had  no  desire  to  separate,  but  that  those  who 
held  particular  redemption  would  not  hear  of  any  accom- 
modation, being  determined  to  have  no  fellowship  with 
men  who  were  in  such  dangerous  errors ;  so  there  were 
now  two  sorts  of  Methodists — those  for  particular  and 
those  for  general  redemption." 

Into  the  controversy  all  bodies  of  dissenters  were  drawn, 
and  in  it  many  members  and  ministers  of  the  Church  of 
England  participated.  Whitefield  was  more  bitterly  at- 
tacked than  Wesley,  and  all  opponents  of  Methodism 
united  in  the  prediction  that  this  dispute  would  soon  bring 
to  an  end  the  "  fanatical  schism." 

Whitefield  preached  against  the  Wesleys  by  name  in 
Moorfields,  and  when  invited  to  the  "  Foundry,"  with 
Charles  Wesley  sitting  near,  he  introduced  the  subject 
and  protested  against  their  teaching.  He  was  temporarily 
so  unpopular  that  his  congregations  during  the  week 
numbered  less  than  three  hundred.      At  all  times,  however, 


84  'I^JflK  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  iv. 

thousands  heard  him  on  Sunday.  Such  were  his  eloquence, 
simpHcity,  and  fervor  that  his  popularity  fully  returned. 
The  personal  estrangement  between  him  and  Wesley  for- 
tunately lasted  but  a  short  time. 

From  that  time  forward  those  who  sympathized  with 
Whitefield  consorted,  being  aided  by  the  Countess  of 
Huntingdon,  whose  wealth,  social  standing,  and  liberality 
were  such  as  to  assist  greatly  in  the  establishment  of  Cal- 
vinistic  Methodism.  She  helped  to  build  sixty-four  chap- 
els in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  gave  away  more 
than  a  hundred  thousand  pounds,  selling  her  jewels  and 
devoting  the  proceeds  to  chapel-building  and  other  religious 
work. 

Prior  to  the  formal  separation  of  Wesley  and  White- 
field  many  little  societies  had  been  formed,  but,  being  left 
without  superintendence,  most  of  them  dissolved.  Peter 
Bohler  recommended  the  formation  of  one  in  London. 
By  January,  1739,  it  numbered  sixty,  and  met  in  Fetter 
Lane  in  connection  with  the  Moravian  Church,  with  which 
several  of  its  members  were  finally  incorporated. 

In  the  summer  of  1739  a  Methodist  society  was  formed 
in  Bristol,  where  were  already  several  little  societies,  which 
now  united.  A  similar  movement  took  place  in  Kings- 
wood  ;  another  in  Bath.  Wesley  places  the  time  when 
the  first  of  the  united  societies  was  formed  toward  the 
close  of  the  year  1739.  "  From  that  time  he  distinguishes 
what  he  sometimes  designates  the  United  Societies,  and  at 
other  times  the  United  Society,  from  all  other  religious  as- 
sociations with  which  he  had  been  previously  connected."  ' 

The  Fetter  Lane  society  was  practically  formed  by  Peter 
Bohler,  who  prepared  its  constitution.     But  serious  differ- 

1  "  Centennial  of  Wesleyan  Methodism,"  by  Thomas  Jackson,  president 
of  the  Wesleyan  Conference  (American  edition,  G.  Mason  &  T.  Lane,  New 
York,  1839). 


FORMATION  OF  METHODIST  "SOCIETIES."  85 

ences  arose,  some  of  the  members  denouncing  the  Christian 
ministry  as  an  institution,  some  opposing  all  ordinances, 
and  others  affirming  that  silence  was  the  best  substitute  for 
the  means  of  grace.  Finally,  on  Sunday,  July  6,  i  740,Wesley 
read  to  the  society  his  objections  to  these  errors,  and,  being 
resisted,  departed,  accompanied  by  a  score  of  the  members, 
followed  later  by  fifty  more,  including  most  of  the  women. 

Eight  months  previous  to  this  Wesley  had  secured  a 
building  in  Moorfields  formerly  used  for  the  casting  of  can- 
non, and  had  opened  it  for  regular  public  worship  Novem- 
ber II,  1739.  Though  this  was  eight  months  before  he 
separated  from  the  Moravians,  many  have  spoken  of  it  as 
the  beginning  of  organized  Methodism. 

Wherever  the  Wesleys  had  traveled  while  affiliating  with 
the  Moravians  tliey  had  formed  "  men  bands  "  and  "  women 
bands,"  afterward  subdivided  according  to  whether  the 
members  were  married  or  single.  They  were  to  meet 
punctually  at  least  once  a  week,  sing  and  pray,  and  speak 
in  order,  revealing  the  true  state  of  their  souls,  confessing 
to  one  another  their  faults  in  word  and  deed  and  their 
various  temptations.  To  each  band  was  assigned  a  leader, 
whose  duty  it  was  to  describe  his  own  state  and  then  call 
upon  the  rest.  Wesley  met  all  the  men  every  Wednes- 
day evening,  and  the  women  on  Sunday.  He  proposed, 
also,  that  one  evening  in  the  quarter  all  the  men,  on  a 
second  all  the  women,  should  meet,  and  on  a  third  men 
and  women  together.      The  last  he  called  love-feasts. 

Some  objected  on  the  ground  that  these  meetings  were 
man's  invention.  Wesley  replied :  "  They  are  prudential 
helps,  grounded  on  reason  and  experience,  in  order  to  ap- 
ply the  general  rules  given  in  Scripture  according  to  par- 
ticular circumstances."  Others  affirmed  that  the  bandswere 
"mere  popery."  Wesley  responded  with  severity:  "Do 
they  not  yet  know  that  the  only  popish  confession  is  the  con- 


86  ^'^/A   METHODISrs.  [Chap.  iv. 

fession  made  by  a  single  person  to  a  priest?  .  .  .  Whereas 
that  we  practice  is  the  confession  of  several  persons  con- 
jointly, not  to  a  priest,  but  to  each  other." 

These  bands  did  not,  as  many  suppose,  give  rise  to  the 
classes.  The  class-meeting  in  Methodism  preceded.  Wes- 
ley was  talking  with  several  of  the  society  in  Bristol  con- 
cerning the  means  of  paying  its  debts,  when  one  said  :  "  Let 
every  member  of  the  society  give  a  penny  a  week  till  all 
are  paid."  Another  answered:  "But  many  of  them  are 
poor  and  cannot  afford  to  do  it."  Then  said  the  proposer 
of  this  method  :  "  Put  eleven  of  the  poorest  with  me,  and 
if  they  can  give  anything,  well ;  I  will  call  on  them  weekly  ; 
and  if  they  cannot  give  anything  I  will  give  for  them  as 
well  as  for  myself.  And  each  of  you  call  on  eleven  of 
your  neighbors  weekly,  receive  what  they  give,  and  make 
up  what  is  wanting." 

In  the  working  of  this  plan,  which  proved  most  efficient, 
the  leaders  reported  to  Wesley  that  they  found  certain 
persons  "who  did  not  live  as  they  should."  He  called 
together  all  the  leaders  and  instructed  them  to  make  par- 
ticular inquiry  into  the  behavior  of  those  whom  they  saw 
weekly.  This  was  the  germ  of  the  modern  class-meeting, 
which  in  process  of  time  incorporated  all  those  elements 
of  the  bands  which  were  in  practice  found  to  be  useful. 

As  the  number  of  societies  increased  it  became  necessary 
to  supply  them  with  preachers.  The  first  lay  preacher  was 
Thomas  Maxfield,  his  appointment  being  made  in  the  ab- 
sence of  Wesley,  who  was  disposed  to  condemn  it,  but  after- 
ward withdrew  his  opposition.  The  second  was  Thomas 
Richards,  and  the  third  Thomas  Westell.  Some  of  these 
early  lay  preachers  displayed  great  ability,  among  them 
John  Nelson ;  another,  Thomas  Olivers,  became  famous 
both  as  a  preacher  and  as  a  poet  of  high  order. 

Separate  places  of  worship  were  now  essential,  because 


ERECTION  OF  CHAPELS.  87 

these  clergymen  were  excluded  from  the  churches  of  the 
Establishment,  and  because  lay  preachers  were  in  no 
case  allowed  to  conduct  services  therein,  and  also  on 
account  of  the  great  number  of  their  converts.  The  first 
chapel  erected  by  the  Wesleys  was  in  Bristol ;  but  prior 
to  its  completion  the  "  Foundry  "  was  opened  in  London. 
Chapels  rapidly  followed  in  Leeds,  Manchester,  Liverpool, 
London,  Birmingham,  and  the  chief  towns  of  the  kingdom. 

The  success  of  the  movement  under  the  Wesleys  was  so 
wonderful  that  during  the  year  1742,  John,  the  acknowl- 
edged final  authority,  was  employing  twenty-three  itiner- 
ant lay  preachers  and  several  local  preachers ;  the  distinc- 
tion being  that  the  former  gave  their  entire  time  to  the 
work,  while  the  latter  pursued  ordinary  business,  preaching 
at  such  points  as  they  could  reach  from  their  places  of  abode. 

The  opening  of  the  year  1 744  wore  a  calamitous  aspect. 
It  was  a  time  of  war.  Reports  were  set  afloat  that  the 
Methodists  were  in  collusion  with  the  papal  Pretender,  that 
Wesley  was  a  Jesuit,  an  Anabaptist,  a  Quaker,  and  that 
he  had  been  prosecuted  for  "  unlawfully  selling  gin." 

A  proclamation  was  issued  in  London  requiring  all 
Roman  Catholics  to  leave  the  city.  Wesley  stayed  behind 
to  show  that  he  was  not  one,  but  was  summoned  before  the 
authorities  and  made  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
king,  and  to  sign  a  declaration  against  popery.  Charles 
Wesley  was  indicted  because  in  a  public  prayer  he  had  be- 
sought' God  to  "  call  home  his  banished  ones,"  which  was 
interpreted  to  mean  the  House  of  Stuart. 

Wesley's  "  Journal  "  shows  that  in  scores  of  places  the 
Methodists  were  mobbed  while  holding  services  in  the 
public  streets  and  at  their  own  houses.  In  some  towns 
rioting  lasted  for  a  week,  and  the  sufferings  of  the  early 
martyrs  were  paralleled.  Frequently  parish  ministers  pro- 
moted the  mobs,  and  magistrates  were  not  willing  to  pro- 


88  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  iv. 

tect  the  Methodists.  The  natural  passions  of  converted 
men  of  giant  strength  were  roused,  and  it  was  with  diffi- 
culty that  the  Wesleys  could  maintain  order  among  their 
followers  by  beseeching  them  not  to  be  overcome  of  evil, 
but  to  overcome  evil  with  good. 

The  conduct  of  John  Wesley  was  so  consistent,  his 
moral  power  so  great,  that  he  was  worth  more  to  his  fol- 
lowers than  a  band  of  armed  men.  At  Newcastle,  where 
the  mob  spirit  was  rising,  he  preached  in  the  public  square 
from  the  text,  "  Ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  men  for  my  name's 
sake."  Tradition  says  that  every  word  was  uttered  in  a 
tone  of  command  as  difficult  to  resist  as  if  it  came  from  the 
lips  of  the  greatest  general  upon  the  field  of  battle.  Wes- 
ley, in  his  usual  laconic  manner,  states  of  one  such  scene 
that  he  "  found  a  great  mob,  and  after  spending  an 
hour  in  taming  them,  exhorted  them  for  two  hours  more." 
The  ringleaders  promised  to  make  no  further  disturbance. 
The  next  day,  however,  the  people,  having  heard  a  false 
report  of  a  victory  of  the  British  over  the  French,  gave 
themselves  up  to  drunkenness  and  renewed  the  attack. 

In  Bristol,  Nottingham,  and  throughout  ail  Cornwall 
similar  scenes  took  place.  Wesley  attended  service  in  the 
Church  of  St.  Ives,  and  heard  the  Methodists  denounced  as 
"enemies  of  the  church  and  state,  Jacobites  and  papists." 

The  announcement  of  his  text  was  often  sufficient  to 
comfort  the  flock.  When  he  came  to  a  town  where  the 
society  was  broken  up,  and  met  the  minister  fleeing  from 
a  mob  led  by  the  mayor,  he  immediately  addressed  the 
frightened  people  from  these  words:  "Enter  into  the 
rock,  and  hide  yourselves  as  it  were  for  a  little  moment, 
until  the  indignation  be  overpast." 

This  was  the  general  condition  ;  but  opposition  met  and 
conquered  in  the  Christian  spirit  contributed  to  the  in- 
crease of  the  societies. 


THE   FIRST  CONFERENCE.  89 

On  the  25th  of  June,  1744,  the  first  Methodist  confer- 
ence was  called  in  London.  There  were  present  John  and 
Charles  Wesley  ;  John  Hodges,  rector  of  Wenvo,  in  Wales ; 
Henry  Piers,  vicar  of  Bexley,  who  had  been  led  by  Charles 
Wesley  into  the  light;  Samuel  Taylor,  vicar  of  Quin- 
ton  ;  and  John  Meriton.  Besides  these  there  were  four  lay 
preachers — Thomas  Maxfield,  Thomas  Richards,  John  Ben- 
nett, and  John  Downes.  The  participants  in  the  con- 
ference applied  themselves  to  determining  and  defining 
repentance,  saving  faith,  justification,  sanctification,  free 
will,  the  witness  of  the  Spirit,  and  other  doctrines.  The 
conclusions  reached,  together  with  the  general  proceed- 
ings, were  recorded  in  the  form  of  minutes.  Some  almost 
prophetic  statements  are  found  therein,  such  as :  "  We 
believe  the  Methodists  will  either  be  thrust  out  or  will 
leaven  the  whole  church."  Practical  questions  of  perma- 
nent importance  were  raised,  such  as  :  "  Is  it  lawful  to  bear 
arms?"  and  "Is  it  lawful  to  use  the  law?"  There  was  a 
Quaker  element  in  the  societies  inclined  to  deny  the  first 
of  these,  and  a  Moravian  element  disposed  to  question  the 
second  ;  but  after  debate  both  were  decided  affirmatively. 
Another  conference  was  called  in  Bristol  in  1 745  ;  subse- 
quently these  were  held  annually. 

In  1 747  Wesley  visited  Ireland,  where  Thomas  Williams, 
a  lay  preacher  from  England,  a  few  months  before  had  es- 
tablished a  society  which  had  increased  until  it  then  num- 
bered three  hundred  members.  The  arrival  of  Wesley 
promoted  the  work,  and  he  found  it  necessary  again  to 
visit  that  country  in  1748.  The  Irish  Roman  Catholics, 
with  their  customary  violence,  attacked  the  Methodists. 
Grand  juries  "  presented  "  Charles  Wesley  as  a  vagabond 
and  a  disturber  of  her  Majesty's  peace,  and  the  appearance 
of  John  was  the  signal  for  the  gathering  of  mobs. 

Before  1758  he  had  visited  every  part  of  Ireland  except 


go  THE   MEIJIODISTS.  [Chai'.  iv. 

Sligo,  and  in  that  year  entered  this  region,  where  he  found 
a  colony  of  German  origin.  During  the  reign  of  Queen 
Anne  one  hundred  and  ten  families  from  the  Palatinate  had 
settled  in  the  town  of  Court  Matress  and  neighboring 
hamlets.  Being  without  a  minister,  they  had  become 
notorious  for  immorality  and  irrehgion ;  but  Methodists 
had  efTected  a  reformation. 

Wesley  delivered  several  discourses  in  a  "  preaching- 
house  "  in  the  center  of  Court  Matress,  and  was  so  much 
pleased  with  the  order  and  superior  morality  of  this  and 
two  neighboring  communities  that  he  declared  that  three 
such  towns  could  hardly  be  found  elsewhere  in  England 
or  Ireland,  and  exclaimed  :  "  How  will  these  poor  foreign- 
ers rise  up  in  the  day  of  judgment  against  those  that  are 
round  about  them!"  Thus,  regardless  of  the  nationality 
of  those  to  whom  the  gospel  was  preached,  the  Word  of 
the  Lord  had  free  course,  and  was  glorified  ;  until,  when  the 
twenty-first  conference  was  held  at  Manchester,  August 
20,  1765,  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  publish  the  minutes, 
which  had  been  regularly  taken,  but  not  given  to  the  pub- 
lic. They  contain  the  names  of  the  preachers  admitted 
on  trial,  the  stations,  helpers,  and  circuits,  with  all  the  ap- 
pointments, and  rules  of  discipline  for  both  societies  and 
preachers.  There  were  at  that  time  25  circuits  with  71 
preachers  in  England,  4  with  4  preachers  in  Scotland,  2 
with  2  preachers  in  Wales,  and  8  with  15  preachers  in 
Ireland ;  making  39  circuits  and  92  lay  itinerants,  besides 
the  local  preachers,  the  Wesleys,  and  those  clergymen  of 
the  Church  of  England  that  cooperated  with  them. 

The  doctrines  taught  by  Wesley  and  his  itinerant  and 
lay  preachers  included  the  fundamental  principles  of  Chris- 
tianity as  held  by  the  Reformed  churches  generally,  but  ex- 
cluded ritualism  and  sacramentarianism,  and  divided  from 
Calvinism  on  unconditional  election,  predestination,  final 


DOCTRINES,   RULES,   AND   INSTITUTIONS.  91 

perseverance  of  the  saints,  and  kindred  doctrines.  In  op- 
position to  these  it  affirmed  that  notwithstanding  human 
depravity  a  measure  of  free  will  is  restored  to  all  together 
with  that  supernatural  light  which  "  lighteth  every  man  that 
cometh  into  the  world"  ;  and  that  those  who  have  been  truly 
converted  may  fall  away  and  be  finally  lost. 

Specific  emphasis  was  also  placed  on  the  possibility 
of  instantaneous  conversion,  and  on  the  witness  of  the 
Spirit,  which  was  explicitly  defined  and  inculcated  as  the 
privilege  of  every  believer.  The  doctrine  of  Christian  per- 
fection— not  a  perfection  which  does  not  admit  of  a  con- 
tinual increase,  but  a  freedom  from  sin,  from  evil  desires 
and  evil  tempers,  and  from  pride ;  "  the  sum  of  which  is 
the  loving  God  with  all  our  heart,  mind,  soul,  and  strength ; 
.  .  .  that  all  the  thoughts,  words,  and  actions  are  gov- 
erned by  pure  love  " — was  constantly  taught;  also  that  it 
was  not  usually,  if  ever,  attained  at  the  moment  of  con- 
version, that  it  is  attainable  by  faith  and  that  only,  and 
that  its  attainment  is  possible  in  this  life. 

The  conditions  for  membership  were  few  and  simple,  yet 
they  contained  a  standard  of  spiritual  life  and  conduct  to 
which  comparatively  few  Christians  in  any  age  have  at- 
tained. The  General  Rules  of  the  United  Societies,  stating 
these  conditions,  were  issued  May  i,  1743,  and  signed  by 
John  and  Charles  Wesley  ;  and  few  changes  have  been 
made.^  The  peculiar  institutions  for  the  promotion  of  the 
Christian  life  and  the  exercise  of  discipline  were  the  regu- 
lar itinerant  ministry  in  the  form  of  circuits,  involving  con- 
stant change,  and  covering  a  vast  extent  of  country  by 
uniting  in  one  plan  regular  itinerants  and  local  preachers ; 
the  classes,  with  their  leaders  and  the  authority  reposed  in 
them ;  the  bands  and  their  leaders ;  the  district  meetings 
and  conferences  ;  love-feasts  and  watch-nights.    Members 

1  See  Appendix. 


92  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai-.  iv. 

of  the  societies  were  instructed  to  receive  the  holy  com- 
munion at  parish  churches,  and  in  their  own  meetings  when 
it  was  administered  by  one  of  those  regularly  ordained  min- 
isters of  the  Established  Church  who  cooperated  with  the 
Wesleys.  Dissenters  connected  with  the  societies  were 
allowed  to  receive  the  Lord's  Supper  at  the  altars  of  their 
respective  religious  bodies,  as,  during  this  period,  both  John 
and  Charles  Wesley  and  their  coadjutors  of  the  Church  of 
England  constantly  declared  that  they  did  not  cherish  the 
purpose  of  forming  a  new  sect  or  church.  This  fact  accounts 
for  various  restrictions  and  requisitions  which  no  church  in 
Christendom  would  have  thought  it  wise  to  impose,  and 
the  absence  of  various  provisions  essential  to  a  church. 
Neither  ministers  nor  members,  accused  of  unsoundness 
in  doctrine,  defectiveness  of  experience,  inefficiency,  or 
immorality,  had  the  privilege  of  a  trial,  much  less  of  an 
appeal,  but  were  excluded  by  the  exercise  of  the  judgment 
of  the  founder.  Nor  could  they  complain  against  this, 
since  none  were  obliged  to  remain,  and  all  had  accepted 
his  teachings  with  that  definite  understanding. 

The  observance  of  zvatch-nigJit  originated  at  Kingswood, 
where  the  depraved  colliers  spent  the  last  night  of  the  year 
in  drunken  revels  and  bacchanalian  scenes.  The  converts 
to  Methodism  changed  these  meetings  into  religious  fes- 
tivals. Some  advised  John  Wesley  to  put  an  end  to  them, 
to  make  the  breach  greater  between  the  old  and  the  new 
life,  and  to  prevent  occasional  disorders.  He  took  the 
matter  under  consideration  and  replied  :  "  Upon  weighing 
the  thing  thoroughly,  and  comparing  it  with  the  practice 
of  the  ancient  Christians,  I  could  see  no  cause  to  forbid  it. 
Rather  I  believed  it  might  be  made  of  more  general  use ; 
so  I  sent  them  word  that  I  designed  to  watch  with  them 
on  the  Friday  nearest  the  full  moon,  that  we  might  have 
light  thither  and  back  again.      I  gave  public  notice  of  this 


CHARLES    WESLEY.  93 

the  Sunday  before,  and,  withal,  that  I  intended  to  preach ; 
desiring  they,  and  they  only,  would  meet  me  there  who 
could  do  it  without  prejudice  to  their  business  or  families. 
On  Friday  abundance  of  people  came.  I  began  preaching 
between  eight  and  nine,  and  we  continued  until  a  little 
beyond  noon  of  night,  singing,  praying,  and  praising 
God." 

Wesley  later  declares  :  "  Exceeding  great  are  the  bless- 
ings that  we  have  found  therein.  It  has  generally  been 
an  extremely  solemn  season,  when  the  Word  of  God  sunk 
deep  into  the  heart,  even  of  those  who  till  then  knew  him 
not."  To  the  charge  that  it  was  only  the  novelty  of  the 
thing  he  replied  :  "  Be  it  so  ;  however,  the  impression  then 
made  on  many  souls  has  never  since  been  effaced.  Now, 
allowing  that  God  did  make  use  of  novelty  or  any  other 
indifferent  circumstance  in  order  to  bring  sinners  to  re- 
pentance, yet  they  are  brought.  And  herein  let  us  rejoice 
together." 

During  this  entire  period  Charles  Wesley  was  the  coad- 
jutor and  counselor  of  the  founder;  a  religious  poet  of  the 
first  order,  a  preacher  of  amazing  eloquence  and  force, 
though  much  more  variable  than  his  brother.  Many  of  his 
hymns  were  improvised  while  preaching ;  others  were 
written  for  special  occasions  and  by  John  Wesley  were  set 
to  music.  The  enthusiasm  of  Methodists  made  them  the 
finest  singers  in  the  kingdom. 

In  1738,  before  their  conversion,  in  the  technical  term, 
they  had  published  a  book  of  selections,  which  included 
some  original  hymns ;  the  next  year  two,  the  following 
year  one,  and  in  i  742  another,  in  which  most  of  the  hymns 
were  by  Charles  Wesley.  Whatever  subject  disturbed  the 
public  mind,  his  prolific  muse  took  up,  and  a  hymn  or  a 
poem  was  the  result.  In  1 749  a  collection  of  hymns  and 
sacred  poems  in  two  volumes  was  published,  with  the  name 


94  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  iv. 

of  Charles  Wesley  alone  as  the  author.  Many  thousands 
singing  marvelously  fervent  descriptions  of  religious  experi- 
ence in  every  stage  from  conviction  to  the  highest  attain- 
ments of  Christian  life — the  whole  sustained  by  a  frame- 
work of  doctrine  rigorously  clear  and  logical  in  definition, 
expressed  in  vigorous  English — produced  an  effect  hardly 
second  to  that  of  the  preaching.  It  was  alike  instructive 
and  inspiring,  afforded  the  materials  for  maintaining  ser- 
vices in  the  absence  of  preachers,  and  attracted  many  to 
the  meetings  who  would  never  have  been  drawn  to  hear 
any  minister,  however  renowned. 

An  incidental  benefit,  the  value  of  which  it  is  difficult 
to  overestimate,  was  that  Methodists  committed  the 
hymns  to  memory,  thus  enriching  their  vocabularies  by 
the  language  and  poetic  similes,  and  especially  by  the 
spiritual  and  pathetic  terms  with  which  they  abounded, 
so  that  they  were  able  to  speak  and  pray  with  astonish- 
ing eloquence. 

Through  life  Charles  Wesley  suffered  from  ill  health, 
which,  in  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Whitehead,  the  physician  of 
the  family,  was  the  result  of  the  asceticism  of  his  early  days. 
He  was  of  great  use  to  his  brother,  especially  in  counter- 
acting his  natural  credulity  and  warning  him  against  a  tend- 
ency to  believe  fair  promises,  religious  words,  and  defer- 
ential manners.  Without  the  characteristics  of  leadership, 
he  was  yet  so  strong  in  High-church  feeling  that  on  vari- 
ous occasions,  if  his  views  had  prevailed,  the  growth  of 
Methodism  would  have  been  checked,  and  little  more  than 
an  invisible  influence  would  have  descended  to  future 
generations. 

The  most  useful  and  in  all  respects  the  most  extraordi- 
nary accession  to  Methodism  was  Jean  Guillaume  de  la 
Flechere,  a  native  of  Switzerland,  a  student  of  philology  and 
philosophy,  a  master  of  French,  German,  Latin,  Hebrew, 


JEAN  GUILLAUME  DE  LA    EL£CHERE.  95 

and  Greek,  educated  at  Geneva,  and  intended  for  the  min- 
istry, but  choosing  the  army  because  he  was  unable  to  sub- 
scribe to  the  doctrine  of  predestination.  At  twenty  years 
of  age  he  enUsted  with  the  rank  of  captain,  under  the  Por- 
tuguese flag.  About  1755  he  united  with  the  Methodist 
Society,  and  in  two  years  was  ordained  in  the  Church  of 
England,  becoming  in  i  760  rector  of  Madeley,  where  he 
equaled,  if  he  did  not  surpass,  the  brothers  Wesley  in 
zeal,  fidelity,  liberality,  and  self-denial.  He  affiliated 
with  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon,  and  became  president 
of  a  theological  seminary  established  by  her,  but  resigned 
on  account  of  doctrinal  diflferences.  Subsequently  he 
espoused  the  cause  of  Mr.  Wesley.  This  devout  man 
became  an  ascetic.  "  He  lived  on  vegetables,  and  for 
some  time  on  milk  and  water  and  bread ;  he  sat  up 
two  whole  nights  in  every  week  for  the  purpose  of 
praying,  reading,  and  meditating  on  religious  things ;  and 
on  other  nights  never  allowed  himself  to  sleep  as  long  as 
he  could  keep  his  attention  to  the  book  before  him."  He 
afterward  acknowledged  the  error  of  this  course.  About 
the  time  of  his  ordination,  determining  to  spend  his  days 
in  England,  he  Anglicized  his  name,  calling  himself  John 
Fletcher.  Southey  ^  speaks  of  him  as  "  a  saintly  man,  car- 
rying on  the  work  of  controversy  with  correspondent  can- 
dor and  distinguished  ability."  By  the  sweetness  of  his 
spirit  he  was  of  immense  advantage  to  John  Wesley,  de- 
fending him  when  he  could  not  defend  himself,  and  exert- 
ing a  much-needed  influence  in  the  direction  of  universal 
charity  and  caution.  The  testimony  of  Southey  is  not 
open  to  the  charge  of  exaggeration :  "  Fletcher  of  Made- 
ley  was  a  man  of  whom  Methodism  may  well  be  proud, 
as  the  most  able  of  its  defenders ;  and  whom  the  Church 
of  England  may  hold  in  honorable  remembrance,  as  one 

1   Southey's  "  Life  of  Wesley,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  208. 


96  TIIK  MK'JIfODISTS.  \Q\\\\\  iv. 

of  the  most  pious  and  excellent  of  her  sons.     Fletcher  in 
any  communion  would  have  been  a  saint."^ 

At  the  Conference  of  1766  an  imperfect  attempt  was 
made  to  ascertain  the  number  of  members;  but  not  until 
the  Conference  of  i  ']6^  was  the  task  accomplished.  It  then 
appeared  that  there  were  22,410  members  in  the  English 
societies,  2801  in  the  Irish,  468  in  the  Scotch,  and  232  in 
the  Welsh. 

1  For  his  principal  works  see  Bibliography. 


CHAPTER   V. 

IN   THE    NEW    WORLD. 

As  in  nature,  the  soil,  the  dimate,  and  the  culture,  no 
less  than  the  germ,  control  the  growth  of  every  species,  so  in 
the  formation  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  institutions  the  char- 
acteristics, number,  and  spirit  of  a  people  influence  develop- 
ment as  powerfully  as  does  the  initial  principle  or  impulse. 

In  September,  i  739,  the  natal  year  of  Methodism,  George 
Whitefield  arrived  in  Philadelphia,  and  during  the  succeed- 
ing year  and  a  half  produced  the  profoundest  religious 
impression,  laying  the  foundations  of  numerous  religious 
organizations.  The  influence  of  Whitefield  can  be  ex- 
plained in  part  by  the  fact  that,  ten  years  after  this  mar- 
velous visit  to  Philadelphia,  that  city  contained  only  2076 
houses.  Allowing  an  average  of  five  persons  to  a  family 
— a  large  estimate — such  was  the  power  of  his  voice  that 
when  he  preached  in  the  open  air  he  could  easily  have  com- 
manded the  entire  adult  population. 

The  first  Protestant  church  in  the  city  of  Baltimore  was 
erected  during  the  year  1739.  At  this  time  the  colony  of 
Pennsylvania  had  a  population  of  less  than  50,000 ;  Vir- 
ginia not  far  from  70,000  ;  New  Jersey  a  little  over  50,000, 
of  whom  nearly  one  tenth  were  slaves ;  and  the  province 
of  New  York  is  estimated  at  65,000,  with  an  annual  rate 
of  increase  of  a  thousand.  The  settlement  and  develop- 
ment of  the  country  progressed  irregularly,  being  stimu- 
lated or  retarded  by  local  circumstances  and  political  and 
pecuniary  complications  in  England. 

97 


98  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  v. 

In  1750  a  census  of  New  England  showed  340,000,  and 
of  South  Carohna,  64,000.  The  methods  of  disseminating 
inteUigence  throughout  the  country  were  chiefly  by  the  few 
and  slow  mails,  by  special  messenger,  and  by  conversation. 
The  first  newspaper  in  Connecticut  was  established  at  New 
Haven  in  1755,  and  the  first  in  North  Carolina  was  pub- 
lished in  December  of  the  same  year.  As  late  as  1757 
the  city  of  New  York  had  but  12,000  inhabitants,  and 
Philadelphia  only  1000  more.  Delaware  had  no  news- 
paper until  1 761  ;  the  city  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  none  until 
1762.  The  "Georgia  Gazette,"  the  first  started  in  that 
colony,  and  the  only  one  for  more  than  twelve  years, 
issued  its  first  number  at  Savannah  in  1763. 

In  I  764  many  German  and  French  Protestants  and  also 
English  and  Scotch,  stimulated  by  bounties  in  land  offered 
by  the  legislature,  migrated  to  South  Carolina.  The  same 
year  Pitt.sburg,  Pa.,  was  laid  out,  and  its  settlement  com- 
menced. 

This  epitome  of  the  history  of  the  country  for  the  first 
six  years  of  the  seventh  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century 
suggests  the  conditions  found  by  a  company  of  Irish  Pala- 
tines who  sailed  from  Limerick  to  the  city  of  New  York  in 
1760.  A  writer  in  the  "  Irish  Evangelist,"  one  hundred 
years  later,  in  an  animated  and  pathetic  manner  describes 
their  departure.^  The  chief  figure  is  a  young  man  of 
thoughtful  look  and  resolute  bearing,  evidently  the  leader 
of  the  party.  ''  He  had  been  one  of  the  first-fruits  to  Christ 
among  his  countrymen,  had  been  the  class-leader  of  their 
infant  Church,  and  often  in  their  humble  chapel  had  min- 
istered to  them  the  Word  of  life.  .  .  .  His  name  was  Philip 
Embury.  His  party  consisted  of  his  wife,  Mary  Switzer, 
to  whom  he  was  married  in  Rathkeale  Church,  on  the 
27th  of  November,  1758;   two  of  his  brothers  and  their 

1  Stevens's  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  vol.  i. ,  pp.  51,  52. 


EMBURY  AND  HIS   COMPANIONS.  99 

families ;  Peter  Switzer,  probably  a  brother  of  his  wife ; 
Paul  Heck,  and  Barbara,  his  wife ;  Valer  Tettler,  Philip 
Morgan,  and  a  family  of  the  Dulmages."  The  vessel 
reached  New  York  August  10,  1760. 

There  were  doubtless  a  few  other  Methodists  in  the 
United  States,  but  none  had  become  the  nucleus  of  a 
Methodist  society,  or  become  affiliated  with  any,  with  a 
possible  noteworthy  exception.  Light  is  thrown  upon 
his  age  by  an  ancient  record  in  the  possession  of  his 
granddaughter,  made  by  Samuel  Embury,  as  follows  :  "  My 
father,  Philip  Embury,  died  in  August,  1773,  aged  forty- 
five  years."  At  no  place  in  the  record  can  the  date  of 
Embury's  birth  be  found,  but  that  of  his  baptism  is  given  : 
"Ye  29th  of  7ber  [September],  1728."  As  it  was  the 
custom  in  the  family  to  baptize  the  children  when  but  a 
few  weeks  old,  his  age  at  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  New 
York  must  have  been  about  thirty-two  years. 

Before  sailing  for  America  he  was  a  carpenter,  and  also 
served  as  a  Wesleyan  local  preacher.  He  had  a  good  edu- 
cation ;  his  orthography  was  faultless,  chirography  remark- 
ably clear,  and  punctuation  accurate.  The  date  of  his  con- 
version is  preserved,  and  its  character  may  be  inferred 
from  a  fragment  of  a  manuscript  in  his  own  handwriting : 

"On  Christmas  day  ; — being  Monday  ye  25th  of  Decem- 
ber in  the  year  1752  ;  the  Lord  shone  into  my  soul  by  a 
glimpse  of  his  Redeeming  love  :  being  an  earnest  of  my 
redemption  in  Christ  Jesus,  to  whom  be  glory  forever  and 
ever.     Amen. 

"  Phil:  Embitry."  i 

The  presumption  is  that  he  lived  a  consistent  life  and 
endeavored,  at  least  by  his  example,  to  save  those  who  had 

1  "  Lost  Chapters  Recovered  from  the  Early  History  of  American  Metho- 
dism," by  J.  B.  Wakeley,  D.D.  (New  York,  Wilbur  B.  Ketcham,  1889). 


lOO  THE  ME'lIIODISTS.  [Chap.  v. 

accompanied  him  from  the  temptations  to  which  they 
were  exposed  ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  exhibited 
genuine  Methodist  zeal  or  conducted  pubhc  rehgious  ser- 
vices in  the  New  World  for  at  least  six  years.  Few  of 
those  who  accompanied  him  were  Methodists,  thougJi 
some  writers,  more  enthusiastic  than  accurate,  have  spoken 
of  the  arrival  of  "  Embury  and  a  whole  ship-load  of  Wes- 
leyans."  The  others  were  members  of  the  Protestant 
Church  in  Ireland,  but  knew  nothing  of  experimental  re- 
ligion as  taught  by  Wesley.  In  i  765  another  vessel  landed 
in  New  York,  containing  five  families.  Some  of  these 
were  related  to  Embury,  and  most  of  them  he  knew. 

The  account  of  what  may  be  properly  termed  the  out- 
break of  Methodism  in  New  York  is  taken  from  a  letter  to 
Dr.  Abel  Stevens  by  a  reliable  authority,  Dr.  G.  C.  M. 
Roberts :  "  A  few  of  them  only  were  Wesleyans.  Mrs. 
Barbara  Heck,  who  had  been  residing  in  New  York  since 
1 760,  visited  them  frequently.  One  of  the  company,  Paul 
Ruckle,  was  her  eldest  brother.  It  was  when  visiting  them 
on  one  of  these  occasions  that  she  found  some  of  the  party 
engaged  in  a  game  of  cards.  There  is  no  proof,  either  di- 
rect or  indirect,  that  any  of  them  were  Wesleyans  and  con- 
nected with  Embury.  Her  spirit  was  roused,  and,  doubt- 
less emboldened  by  her  long  and  intimate  acquaintance 
with  them  in  Ireland,  she  seized  the  cards,  threw  them 
into  the  fire,  and  then  most  solemnly  warned  them  of  their 
danger  and  duty.  Leaving  them,  she  went  directly  to  the 
dwelling  of  Embury,  who  was  her  cousin.  It  was  located 
upon  Barrack  Street,  now  Park  Place.  After  narrating 
what  she  had  seen  and  done,  under  the  influence  of  the 
divine  Spirit  and  with  power,  she  appealed  to  him  to  be 
no  longer  silent,  but  to  preach  the  Word  forthwith.  She 
parried  his  excuses,  and  urged  him  to  commence  at  once 
in  his  own  house  and  to  his  own  people.      He  consented, 


BARBARA    HECK'S  APPEAL.  lOl 

and  she  went  out  and  collected  four  persons,  who  with  her- 
self constituted  his  audience.  After  singing  and  prayer 
he  preached  to  them  and  enrolled  them  in  a  class.  He 
continued  thereafter  to  meet  them  weekly.  Embury  was 
not  among  the  card-players,  nor  in  the  same  house  with 
them." 

Wakeley  gives  some  particulars  of  Mrs.  Heck's  appeal. 
When  she  found  Embury  she  exclaimed,"  Brother  Embury, 
you  vi?(st  preach  to  us,  or  we  shall  all  go  to  hell,  and  God 
will  require  our  blood  at  your  hands ! "  Though  astonished 
and  alarmed,  Embury,  to  quiet  his  conscience,  inquired, 
"  How  can  I  preach  ?  for  I  have  neither  a  house  nor  a  con- 
gregation." The  zealous  woman  replied,  "  Preach  in  your 
own  house  and  to  your  own  company  first."  The  result 
was  that  he  consented  to  preach,  and  she  went  forth  to 
gather  a  congregation. 

The  interesting  question  whether  -Philip  Embury  was 
engaged  in  the  game  of  cards  was  raised  many  years  ago. 
Wakeley  says :  "  Some  Methodists  have  admitted  it,  and 
the  enemies  of  Methodism  have  said  in  ridicule  that  Ameri- 
can Methodism  originated  at  the  card-table."  He  then  in- 
vestigates the  subject  and  furnishes  conclusive  testimony 
that  Embury  was  not  present.  The  action  of  Mrs.  Heck 
shows  that  he  was  the  only  man  to  whom  she  could  appeal, 
and  justifies  Wakeley's  remark  that  "  he  was  a  very  diffident 
man,  and  his  not  doing  was  among  his  darkest  deeds." 

At  this  first  service,  held  in  i  766,  the  month  and  day 
being  unknown,  those  present  enrolled  their  names  in  a 
class  and  promised  to  attend  regularly  at  the  house  for 
religious  instruction. 

Begun  under  such  circumstances,  Methodism  could  but 
succeed.  This  small  number  contained  latent  forces  suf- 
ficient to  arouse  a  primitive  community  dead  in  trespasses 
and  sins,  and  to  make  an  impression  of  some  kind  upon  any 


I02  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  v. 

comiiuinity  ;  for  in  a  thousand  hamlets  and  towns  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  the  Word  of  the  Lord  had  free  course, 
ran,  and  was  glorified. 

Soon  Embury's  house  could  not  hold  all  who  desired 
to  hear,  and  a  larger  room  was  hired,  to  provide  for  the 
expense  of  which  collections  were  taken.  In  a  few  months 
fourteen  or  more  had  been  genuinely  converted,  which 
were  formed  into  classes,  one  of  men  and  the  other  of 
women.  The  instructions  given  by  Wesley  and  his  help- 
ers to  local  preachers,  and  the  responsibilities  imposed 
upon  such,  and  also  upon  class-leaders,  show  that  Embury, 
who  was  both  a  class-leader  and  a  licensed  local  preacher, 
understood  Methodism,  and  knew  how  to  organize  bands, 
classes,  and  societies. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  in  the  small  city,  without  much 
to  excite  the  people,  with  no  daily  papers  to  absorb  atten- 
tion by  presenting  the  news  of  the  civilized  and  the  un- 
civilized world,  great  interest  should  have  been  kindled  by 
such  a  movement.  Even  at  this  late  day,  notwithstanding 
all  the  counter-attractions,  a  "  revival  "  in  a  time  of  peace 
will  attract  larger  concourses  and  maintain  interest  longer 
than  any  other  public  excitement.  Besides,  Whitefield  had 
preached  often  in  New  York  only  three  years  before,  and 
Wesleyan  Methodism,  for  a  time,  undoubtedly  derived  con- 
siderable advantage  from  the  estimate  in  which  he  was 
held,  by  the  afifiliation  of  some  of  his  converts  and  the 
familiarity  of  the  public  with  the  name  of  Methodism,  which 
was  popularly  applied  to  his  spirit  and  methods. 

The  place  where  Embury  preached  was  not  far  from  the 
quarters  of  the  British  troops.  Three  musicians  of  the 
regiment,  drawn  by  the  singing  of  the  Methodists,  so  much 
more  spirited  than  the  music  of  the  Established  Church  or 
of  the  dissenters,  attended  the  services,  were  converted, 
and  were  commissioned  by  Embury  as  "  exhorters."    The 


INCREA  SING   A  T  TEND  A  NCE.  I  o  3 

poorer  part  of  the  community  furnished  the  majority  of 
the  converts.  The  neglected  paupers  in  the  almshouse 
received  the  attention  of  the  evangelists,  and  heard  with 
delight  the  promise  of  everlasting  life.  The  superintend- 
ent of  the  institution  invited  Embury  to  preach  there,  and, 
besides  several  of  "  the  non-criminal  wards  of  the  State," 
was  himself  added  to  the  list  of  converts. 

The  attendance  at  the  meetings  constantly  increased. 
Early  in  1767,  probably  in  the  montii  of  February,  a 
stranger,  in  military  dress  and  wearing  a  sword,  appeared 
among  them.  He  was  obviously  an  officer  of  the  royal 
army,  and  the  few  Methodists  seem  to  have  been  dis- 
turbed, perhaps  frightened,  suspecting  that  he  might  have 
come  to  question  them  concerning  the  conversion  of  the 
musicians  and  other  members  of  the  army.  But  his  de- 
vout conduct  allayed  their  fears,  for  he  conformed  to  their 
methods.  At  the  close  he  introduced  himself  as  "  Captain 
Thomas  Webb,  of  the  king's  service,  and  also  a  soldier  of 
the  cross  and  a  spiritual  son  of  John  Wesley,"  and  in- 
formed Embury  that  he  had  been  authorized  by  Wesley 
to  preach. 

Webb  was  in  the  siege  of  Louisburg,  where  he  lost  his 
right  eye,  and  at  midnight,  September  12,  1759,  was  with 
those  who  landed  at  the  foot  of  the  tangled  ravine  below 
the  plains  of  Abraham,  and  in  the  van  led  by  Howe  which 
scaled  those  heights  before  dawn,  where  he  fought  in  the 
murderous  battle  of  Quebec  in  the  midst  of  the  fiercest 
carnage,  seeing  scores  of  his  companions  killed,  but  escap- 
ing himself  with  a  wound  in  his  right  arm.  Five  years  after 
that  battle  he  heard  John  Wesley  preach  in  Bristol,  and  be- 
came a  zealous  Christian.  In  1 765  he  joined  the  Methodist 
Society,  and  one  day  entered  a  Methodist  congregation  at 
Bath.  The  circuit  preacher  having  failed  to  come,  Webb,  in 
his  regimentals,  advanced  to  the  altar  and  began  to  speak, 


I04  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  v. 

rousing  deep  feeling,  especially  while  recounting  the  facts 
of  his  personal  experience.  The  occurrence  was  narrated 
to  John  Wesley,  who  immediately  licensed  him  to  preach. 
Webb  frequently  referred  to  his  hairbreadth  escapes,  and 
the  manner  in  which  he  lost  his  eye  has  probably  never 
been  paralleled  :  "  A  ball  hit  him  on  the  bone  which  guards 
the  right  eye,  and,  taking  an  oblique  direction,  burst  the 
eyeball,  and  passing  through  his  palate  into  his  mouth,  he 
swallowed  it."  The  wounded  were  put  into  a  boat,  and 
all  were  assisted  to  the  land  except  Webb.  One  of  the 
men  said,  "  He  needs  no  help;  he  is  dead  enough."  But 
he  was  just  able  to  whisper,  "  No,  I  am  not  dead."  It  was 
three  months  before  he  could  attend  to  his  military  duty. 
His  escape  was  so  narrow — "  for  had  the  ball  struck  him  a 
hairbreadth  higher  or  lower  it  would  have  taken  his  life" 
— that  he  felt  that  in  a  peculiar  manner  he  owed  his  life  to 
God.  Of  his  scars  he  was  not  ashamed,  and  over  his  eye- 
less socket  he  wore  a  green  shade.  At  the  time  of  his 
arrival  in  New  York  he  was  acting  barrack-master  at  Al- 
bany. He  loved  the  Bible  to  such  an  extent  as  to  study 
it  in  the  original  Greek,  and  his  Greek  Testament  is  pre- 
served to  this  day  in  the  United  States.  Much  can  be 
learned  of  his  character  by  references  in  the  writings  of 
John  and  Charles  Wesley.  Some  years  later  the  former 
heard  him,  and  records  in  his  journal  his  opinion:  "  I  ad- 
mire the  wisdom  of  God  in  still  raising  up  various  preach- 
ers, according  to  the  various  tastes  of  men.  The  captain 
is  all  life  and  fire ;  therefore,  although  he  is  not  deep  or 
regular,  yet  many  who  would  not  hear  a  better  preacher 
flock  together  to  hear  him.  And  many  are  corfvinced 
under  his  preaching;  some  justified;  a  few  built  up  in 
love." 

Again  Wesley  says :   "  Captain  Webb  kindled  a  flame 
here,  and  it  is  not  yet  gone  out.     The  people  generally 


"  THE    OLD   SOLDIER.'"  I05 

were  much  quickened.  I  found  his  preaching  in  the  street 
at  Winchester  had  been  blessed  greatly." 

Captain  Webb  was  equally  successful  with  the  Irish. 
Wesley  wrote :  "  Captain  Webb  is  now  in  Dublin ;  invite 
him  to  visit  Limerick ;  he  is  a  man  of  fire,  and  the  power 
of  God  constantly  accompanies  his  word." 

Charles  W^esley  does  not  seem  to  have  thought  as  highly 
of  him,  for  when  John  Fletcher  and  Captain  Webb  were 
trying  to  induce  Joseph  Benson,  the  preacher  and  com- 
mentator, to  identify  himself  with  the  American  work, 
Charles  Wesley  wrote  to  Mr.  Benson  :  "  I  have  barely  time 
to  say  your  own  reasons  for  not  going  to  America,  and 
Christopher  Hopper's,  are  unanswerable.  Mr.  Fletcher  is 
only  the  captain's  echo.  The  captain's  impressions  are  no 
more  (or  very  little  more)  to  be  depended  upon  than  George 
Bell's.  He  is  an  inexperienced,  honest,  zealous,  loving 
enthusiast."  Nevertheless  he  seemed  to  be  fond  of  the 
captain,  and  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Rankin  two  years  later  he 
writes:  "  My  love  to  Captain  Webb  when  you  see  him." 

The  "impressions"  of  which  Charles  Wesley  speaks 
related  to  the  coming  glory  of  the  settlements  in  the 
Western  Hemisphere,  and  the  corresponding  opportunity 
for  the  effectual  spread  of  the  gospel.  The  world  now 
knows  that  it  would  ha\'e  been  impossible  for  Captain 
Thomas  Webb,  or  any  other  preacher  or  poet,  to  prophesy 
greater  things  than  have  come  to  pass.  Joseph  Benson, 
however,  waited  for  a  "  more  effectual  call  "  that  never 
came. 

When  Captain  Webb  preached  he  reverently  laid  his 
sword  on  the  table  or  desk  before  him.  This,  as  it  was 
probably  the  only  circumstance  of  the  kind  the  people  of 
this  country  had  ever  seen,  military  men,  especially  officers, 
being  notoriously  indifferent  to  practical  religion,  had  some 
effect  in  attracting  the  large  congregations  which  gathered 


I06  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  v. 

to  hear  him.  But  he  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  elo- 
quence, often  compared  to  Whitefield.  He  was  especially 
effective  with  military  men,  who  admired  his  martial  bear- 
ing and  powerful  voice,  and  he  was  the  means  of  the  con- 
version of  many  soldiers  and  several  influential  officers. 
One  of  these,  who  became  a  powerful  local  preacher,  in 
an  account  of  his  conversion,  says  that  he  "  thought  the 
word  of  command  by  such  an  excellent  officer  could  dis- 
tinctly be  heard  throughout  the  line,  from  right  to  left." 
Written  memorials  of  his  discourses  attach  much  influence 
to  his  piercing  eye,  which  seemed  to  scrutinize  every 
listener.  But  probably  the  strongest,  because  the  most 
deliberate  and  competent,  testimony  to  his  powers  is  that 
of  the  first  Vice-President  and  second  President  of  the 
United  States,  John  Adams,  who  describes  him  as  "  the 
old  soldier — one  of  the  most  eloquent  men  I  ever  heard ; 
he  reaches  the  imagination  and  touches  the  passions  very 
well,  and  expresses  himself  with  great  propriety."  ^ 

The  next  step  was  the  renting  of  a  room  on  William 
Street,  known  as  "  the  rigging  loft,"  sixty  by  eighteen  feet. 
Services  were  held  there  three  times  a  week,  Webb  and 
Embury  preaching  alternately.  Jesse  Lee's  "  History  of 
the  Methodists,"  published  in  i8io  (p.  25),  says:  "There 
are  a  few  persons  still  living  in  New  York  who  met  with 
the  society  in  the  rigging  loft,  and  are  pleased  at  the 
recollection  of  what  the  Lord  did  for  them  in  their  little 
society,  when  they  were  weak  and  ignorant  in  the  things 
of  religion,  but  were  united  together  in  Christian  love  and 
fellowship." 

Captain  Webb  saw  the  necessity  of  permanent  accom- 
modations for  the  Methodists.-  He  was  anticipated  in  this 
design  by  Barbara  Heck,  who  had  "  made  the  enterprise  a 

1  Stevens's  "  Histoiy  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  vol.  i.,  p.  60. 
■''  /did.,  vol.  i.,  p.  62. 


rifE    FIRST  METHODIST  CHURCH.  loy 

matter  of  prayer,"  and  testified  that  she  had  received  from 
the  Lord,  "  with  inexpressible  sweetness  and  power,  the 
answer,  '  I  the  Lord  will  do  it.'  "  She  also  devised  an 
economical  plan  for  the  edifice,  which  was  approved  by 
the  society. 

Wakeley  ^  doubts  whether  a  house  of  worship  would 
have  been  erected  at  that  time  without  the  influence  of 
Captain  Webb  and  the  money  contributed  by  him.  Dr. 
Stevens  expresses  the  opinion  that  it  would  probably  not 
even  have  been  attempted  without  his  aid  ;  he  was  the  first 
subscriber,  pledging  thirty  pounds — one  third  more  than 
any  other  person  gave — nor  was  his  interest  exhausted 
then,  for  he  loaned  the  society  two  hundred  pounds,  and 
as  the  enterprise  progressed,  increased  the  loan  to  three 
hundred,  these  financial  services  being  rendered  in  the 
year  1768.  Nor  was  this  all,  for  he  remitted  a  considera- 
ble part  of  the  interest,  secured  contributions  from  friends 
amounting  to  thirty-two  pounds,  and  sold  books  for  the 
benefit  of  the  enterprise.  Captain  Webb  was  one  of  the 
original  trustees,  though  to  Embury  belongs  the  glory  of 
being  "  the  first  trustee,  first  treasurer,  first  class-leader, 
and  first  preacher." 

In  less  than  three  years  from  its  beginning  Methodism 
in  the  city  of  New  York  had  made  an  impression  both 
wide  and  deep.  The  society  leased  the  site  in  John  Street 
in  1768,  purchasing  it  two  years  later.  The  first  subscrip- 
tion paper  records  the  results  of  a  successful  appeal  to  the 
citizens,  and  contains  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  names, 
including  all  classes,  from  the  mayor  and  the  primitive 
Methodists  down  to  African  slaves,  known  only  by  their 
Christian  names.  The  most  distinguishisd -names  in  the 
early  history  of  New  York,  founders  of  the  great  fami- 
lies who  have  flourished  and  still  exist,  the  Livingstons, 

1  "  Lost  Chapters,"  p.  144. 


I08  THE   MErilODISTS.  [Chap.  v. 

Duanes,  Delanceys,  Laights,  Stuyvesants,  Lispenards,  are 
there,  as  well  as  Dr.  Samuel  Auchmuty,  rector  of  Trinity 
Church,  and  his  assistant,  the  Rev.  John  Ogvelsire,  and  the 
Rev.  Charles  Inglis,  assistant  to  Dr.  Auchmuty  and  also 
his  successor.  Oliver  Delancey,  Esq.,  gave  six  pounds  ten 
shillings.  Frederick  De  Peyster  was  among  the  subscrib- 
ers, also  Philip  Livingston,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence.  Side  by  side  with  these  names  are 
those  of  Margaret  and  Rachel,  two  slaves  hired  to  take  care 
of  the  preacher's  house.  Among  the  subscribers  are  the 
names  of  thirty-five  women. 

The  preamble  of  the  paper,  to  which  the  signatures 
of  those  who  contributed  were  affixed,  is  an  important 
document,  showing  that  at  that  time  the  Methodists 
had  no  idea  that  they  would  become  a  distinct  denom- 
ination of  Christians ;  in  fact,  their  appeal  for  general 
support  was  made  upon  the  assumption  that  they  were 
not  to  be. 

"A  number  of  persons,  desirous  to  w^orship  God  in 
spirit  and  truth,  commonly  called  Methodists  (under  the 
direction  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  John  Wesley),  whom  it  is  evident 
God  has  been  pleased  to  bless  in  their  meetings  in  New 
York,  thinking  it  would  be  more  to  the  glory  of  God  and 
the  good  of  souls  had  they  a  more  convenient  place  to  meet 
in,  where  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  might  be  preached 
without  distinction  of  sects  or  parties ;  and  as  Mr.  Philip 
Embury  is  a  member  and  helper  in  the  Gospel,  they 
humbly  beg  the  assistance  of  Christian  friends,  in  order 
to  enable  them  to  build  a  small  house  for  that  purpose, 
not  doubting  but  the  God  of  all  consolation  will  abun- 
dantly bless  all  such  as  are  willing  to  contribute  to  the 
same." 

The  deed,  also,  to  the  ground  upon  which  the  first 
preaching-house   was   built,   made    to    the    Rev.    Richard 


PECULIAR  LEGAL  DOCUMENT.  109 

Boardman  and  others  at  the  termination  of  the  lease  which 
they  had  taken  when  the  building  was  erected,  is  one  of 
the  most  important  Methodist  historical  documents  extant. 

It  reads :  "  To  HAVE  and  to  hold  the  said  two  lots  of 
ground,  meeting-house,  and  premises  hereinbefore  men- 
tioned and  described,  and  hereby  granted  and  released, 
with  all  and  every  the  appurtenances  unto  the  said  Rich- 
ard Boardman,  Joseph  Pilmoor,  William  Lupton,  Thomas 
Webb,  John  Southwell,  Henry  Newton,  and  James  Jarvis, 
their  heirs  and  assigns,  forever.  NEVERTHELESS,  UPON 
SPECIAL  TRUST  AND  CONFIDENCE,  and  to  the  intent  that 
they  and  the  survivors  of  them,  and  all  other  trustees  for 
the  time  being  do  and  shall  permit  John  Wesley,  late  of 
Lincoln  College,  in  the  University  of  Oxford,  cleark,  and 
such  other  persons  as  he,  the  said  John  Wesley,  shall  from 
time  to  time  appoint,  and  at  all  times  during  his  natural 
life,  and  no  other  person  or  persons,  to  have  and  enjoy  the 
free  use  and  benefit  of  the  said  meeting-house  and  premises. 

"  That  the  saidjohn  Wesley,  and  such  other  person  or  per- 
sons as  he  shall  from  time  to  time  appoint,  may  therein  preach 
and  expound  God's  Holy  Word;  and  after  his,  the  said 
John  Wesley,  deceased,  upon  further  trust  and  confidence, 
and  to  the  intent  that  the  said  trustees  and  the  survivors 
of  them,  and  the  trustees  for  the  time  being,  do  and  shall 
permit  Charles  Wesley,  late  of  Christ's  Church  College, 
Oxford,  cleark,  and  such  person  or  persons  as  he  shall  from 
time  to  time  appoint,  and  at  all  times  during  his  life,  and 
no  other,  to  have  and  enjoy  the  full  use  and  benefit  of  the 
said  meeting-house  and  premises  for  the  purposes  afore- 
said ;  and  after  the  decease  of  the  survivors  of  the  said 
John  Wesley  and  Charles  Wesley,  then  upon  furtJier'-  trust 
and  confidence,  that  the  said  Richard  Boardman  and  the 
rest  of  the  hereinbefore  mentioned  trustees,  or  the  major  part 
of  them,  or  the  survivors  of  them,  and  the  major  part  of  the 


IIO  THE   METHODISTS.  [Cii.vr.  v. 

trustees  for  the  time  being,  shall,  and  froui  time  to  ti}ne, 
and  FOREVER  thereafter  will,  permit  such  person  or  persons 
as  shall  be  appointed  at  the  yearly  conference  of  the  people 
called  Methodists  in  London,  Bristol,  Leeds,  and  the  city 
of  New- York  aforesaid,  atid  no  others,  to  have  and  enjoy  the 
said  premises  for  the  purposes  aforesaid,  provided  always 
that  the  said  person  or  persons  so  from  time  to  time  to  be 
chosen  as  aforesaid,//rrt:^/!  no  other  doctrine  than  is  contained 
in  the  said  John  Wesley's  Notes  upon  the  New  Testament 
and  his  four  volumes  of  Sermons;  and  upon  further  trust 
and  confidence,  that  as  often  as  any  of  the  trustees  hereby 
appointed,  or  the  trustees  for  the  time  being,  shall  die  or 
cease  to  be  a  member  of  the  society  commonly  called 
Methodists,  the  rest  of  the  said  trustees  for  the  time  being, 
as  soon  as  conveniently  may  be,  shall  and  may  choose 
another  trustee  or  trustees,  in  order  to  keep  up  such  a 
number  of  trustees  that  they  may  in  no  time  hereafter  be 
less  than  seven  nor  more  than  nine." 

The  trustees  bought  the  material  and  transacted  busi- 
ness for  the  building  in  their  own  names  and  on  their  per- 
sonal securities.  Embury,  skilled  in  carpentry,  labored  on 
the  structure,  constructing  its  pulpit  with  his  own  hands. 
The  province  being  under  the  regime  of  Great  Britain,  dis- 
senters were  not  allowed  to  build  churches  in  the  city  of 
New  York ;  the  Established  Church  not  only  had  the  right 
of  way,  but  in  its  behalf  obstructions  of  various  kinds  were 
placed  in  the  by-paths  which  others  were  attempting  to 
traverse. 

The  building  was  of  stone,  sixty  feet  by  forty-two.  It 
was  necessary  to  have  a  fireplace  and  chimney  so  as  to 
evade  the  law,  which  prohibited  the  erection  of  "  regular 
churches  "  not  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. Wakeley  informs  us  that  at  first  there  were  no  stairs 
or  breastwork  to  the  galleries,  the  hearers  ascending  by  a 


THE  DEDICA  TION.  I  i  i 

ladder ;  and  even  the  seats  on  the  lower  floor  had  no  backs  ; 
nor  were  there  class-rooms,  lecture- room,  chorister,  or  choir. 

On  the  thirtieth  day  of  October,  i  768,  Embury  ascended 
the  pulpit  which  he  had  constructed,  and  preached  the  dedi- 
catory sermon  from  Hosea  x.  12:  "Sow  to  yourselves  in 
righteousness,  reap  in  mercy  ;  break  up  your  fallow  ground  : 
for  it  is  time  to  seek  the  Lord,  till  he  come  and  rain 
righteousness  upon  you."  Lee  states  that  the  house  was 
sufficiently  large  to  hold  twelve  or  fourteen  hundred.  This 
does  not  agree  with  Stevens,  who  says  that  "  within  two 
years  from  its  consecration  we  have  reports  of  at  least  a 
thousand  persons  crowding  it  to  the  area  in  its  front."  It 
was  named  Wesley  Chapel,  and  Dr.  Dixon,  an  eminent  Wes- 
leyan,  says:  "This  was  most  likely  the  first  chapel  called 
by  his  name,  for  most  assuredly  John  Wesley  would  never 
allow  either  chapel,  society,  or  anything  else  to  be  called 
after  him  in  England  so  long  as  he  lived  and  possessed  the 
power  to  prevent  it."  In  1770  a  parsonage  was  erected 
adjacent  to  the  chapel.  The  city  of  New  York  then  con- 
tained twenty  thousand  inhabitants. 

After  his  retirement  with  full  pay  as  captain,  Webb  had 
leisure  to  do  what  he  would.  Relatives  of  his  wife  residing 
at  Jamaica,  Long  Island,  he  removed  to  that  place,  hired 
a  house,  and  preached  in  it,  and  "  twenty-four  persons  re- 
ceived justifying  grace."  He  made  many  preaching-tours 
through  New  Jersey,  and  on  his  first  visit  to  a  town  formed 
a  class,  and  on  the  second  or  third  organized  a  society.  It 
was  he  who  planted  Methodism  in  Pemberton,  at  Trenton, 
the  capital  of  the  State,  and  Burlington.  In  the  last- 
named  he  preached  in  the  market-place  and  in  the  court- 
house, and  there  Joseph  Toy,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of 
New  Jersey,  was  led  to  become  a  Christian  and  to  identify 
himself  with  the  Methodists.  Appointed  by  his  "  spiritual 
father"  the  leader  of  a  small  class,  he  became  first  a  local 


112  THE   MErnODJSTS.  [fiiAi-.  v. 

and  then  a  traveling  preacher,  giving  twenty-five  years  to 
tiie  work,  and  becoming  one  of  the  teachers  in  the  first 
college  established  by  Methodists.  If  Philip  Embury 
founded  Methodism  in  New  York,  Captain  Webb  was  no 
less  its  founder  in  Philadelphia.  Here  he  preached  in  a 
sail-loft  and  formed  a  class- of  seven  members.  It  was  he, 
also,  who  introduced  Methodism  into  Delaware,  and  he 
was  equally  successful  whether  preaching  in  Wilmington 
or  among  the  farmers  and  fishermen  on  the  banks  of  the 
Brandywine  River.  He  also  lifted  up  his  commanding 
voice  with  wonderful  effect  in  Baltimore. 

His  services  to  American  Methodism  were  no  less  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  He  constantly  appealed  to 
Wesley  to  send  out  preachers,  and  in  1772  returned  to 
England,  chiefly,  if  not  wholly,  to  interest  Wesleyans  in 
the  work  of  God  in  the  colonies. 

For  some  years  it  was  generally  supposed  that  the  name 
of  Barbara  Heck  was  Hick,  that  she  died  in  New  York  and 
was  buried  in  Trinity  Churchyard,  and  that  Paul  Hick,  one 
of  the  early  trustees  of  the  John  Street  Church,  was  her 
son.  Against  this  it  was  maintained  that  her  name  was 
not  Hick,  but  Heck;  that  with  her  husband  and  sons  she 
removed  to  Camden,  N.  Y.,  in  1770  or  1771,  and  thence 
to  Canada  in  1774;  that  she  died  in  1804,  and  is  buried 
by  the  side  of  her  husband  in  the  burying-ground  of  the 
old  "  Blue  Church  in  the  front  of  Augusta  "  ;  that  Paul 
Hick,  of  New  York,  was  a  nephew  of  Paul  Heck,  the  hus- 
band of  Barbara,  and  that  the  change  of  name  was  made 
in  his  family. 

The  documents  submitted  in  the  "  Christian  Guardian," 
Canada,  May  25,  1859,  and  in  the  "  Christian  Advocate," 
together  with  much  other  proof,  determine  the  case  be- 
yond reasonable  question.  Dr.  J.  B.  Wakeley  ^  supported 
1  "  Lost  Chapters." 


ORIGIN  OF  METHODISM  IN  MARYLAND.  I  13 

the  view  that  makes  the  orthography  of  the  name  Hick 
and  that  represents  Mrs.  Heck  as  being  buried  in  Trinity 
Churchyard,  New  York ;  but  he  addressed  a  communica- 
tion to  the  "  Christian  Advocate  "  which  showed  that  he 
was  incHned  to  doubt  tlie  correctness  of  his  previous 
opinion.  The  evidence  that  she  migrated  with  PhiHp 
Embury  from  the  city  of  New  York  to  Camden,  N.  Y., 
and  that  her  name  was  Heck,  is,  as  to  the  latter  point, 
that  the  signature  of  Paul  Heck  is  plainly  Heck,  that  the 
Irish  authorities  agree  that  this  was  the  spelling  of  the 
name,  and  that  William  Case,  perhaps  the  best  authority 
in  Canadian  Methodist  history,  wrote  to  Nathan  Bangs  in 
1855  that  he  had  visited  the  descendants  of  Paul  Heck 
and  his  worthy  companion  at  their  residence  in  Canada. 
Prompted  by  correspondence  with  one  of  the  descendants 
to  make  an  independent  investigation,  the  writer  was  led 
to  the  same  conclusion  reached  by  Dr.  Stevens,  that  the 
name  of  this  modern  Deborah  was  Heck,  and  that  she  died 
in  Canada. 

While  Embury  and  Captain  Webb  were  preaching  in 
New  York,  a  religious  awakening  of  which  they  had  never 
heard  was  spreading  in  Maryland.  Robert  Strawbridge, 
a  native  of  County  Leitrim,  Ireland,  had  migrated  to 
North  America  in  the  hope  of  securing  for  his  family  a 
better  support,  and  settled  in  Frederick  County,  Maryland, 
on  Sam's  Creek,  then  strictly  a  backwoods  country.  Five 
years  before,  the  Indians  passed  Forts  Cumberland  and 
Frederick,  plundering  and  murdering,  and  continued  un- 
checked until  within  eighty  miles  of  Baltimore,  which  so 
terrified  the  inhabitants  that  the  women  and  children  were 
placed  on  board  vessels  in  the  harbor,  while  the  residents  of 
the  surrounding  country  were  fleeing  to  Baltimore  for  safety.  ^ 

1  William  Hamilton's  "  Early  Methodism  in  Maryland,  Especially  in  Bal- 
timore" ("  Methodist  Quarterly  Review,"  July,  1856). 


114  THE   MEJJIODISTS.  [Chah.  v. 

It  is  maintained  by  some  that  Robert  Strawbridge 
preached  the  first  sermon,  formed  the  first  society,  and 
built  the  first  preaching-house  for  Methodism  in  Mary- 
land, and  in  America,  at  least  three  years  before  Wesley 
Chapel,  in  John  Street,  New  York,  was  erected.  In  sup- 
port of  this  view  Bishop  Asbury's  "  Journal  "  is  quoted 
(vol.  iii.,  p.  27):  "Here  Mr.  Strawbridge  formed  the 
first  society  in  Maryland — and  America."  This  is  not  suf- 
ficient to  settle  the  question,  as  there  is  a  letter  in  Asbury's 
own  handwriting  in  possession  of  Dr.  George  R.  Crooks, 
of  Drew  Theological  Seminary,  in  which  Asbury  states 
that  Methodism  was  established  in  this  country  in  about 
1770.  This  is  plainly  an  error;  and  in  the  haste  and  hard 
work  of  Asbury  various  statements  were  made  which  are 
incorrect.  But  the  most  remarkable  document  on  this 
point  is  quoted  in  full  by  Hamilton,  and  certified  as  having 
been  written  by  David  Evans,  son  of  John  Evans,  one  of 
Strawbridge's  first  converts.  The  attestor  is  Samuel  Evans, 
son  of  David.  "  John  Evans,  born  30th  of  November, 
1 734,  about  five  miles  from  Baltimore.  When  about  four- 
teen years  of  age  his  father  moved  to  the  upper  part  of  Bal- 
timore County,  near  the  neighborhood  of  Pipe  and  Sam's 
Creek,  where  he  resided  until  his  death.  In  his  twenty- 
fifth  year  he  married ;  he  had  nine  children,  and  six  are 
now  living.  His  parents  were  members  of  the  Church  of 
England.  About  the  year  1764,  he  embraced  the  Metho- 
dist religion  under  Mr.  Strawbridge."  The  remainder  of 
the  note  consists  of  a  statement  that  when  the  first  circuit 
was  formed  in  Baltimore  County,  Mr.  Evans  offered  his 
house  ;  it  was  accepted  about  the  year  1 768,  and  continued 
a  preaching-house  upward  of  forty  years,  during  which 
time  he  was  a  regular  class-leader.  The  phrase  ''about  the 
year  i  764  "  is  too  vague  to  settle  the  question. 

Asbury  and  Coke  prepared  the  first  "Discipline"  in  1785, 


A    QUESTION  OF  PRIORITY.  II5 

in  which  is  a  short  account  of  Methodism.  After  recit- 
ing the  services  of  Philip  Embury  and  Thomas  Webb,  the 
history  proceeds:  "About  the  same  time  Robert  Straw- 
bridge,  a  local  preacher  from  Ireland,  settled  in  Maryland, 
and,  preaching  there,  formed  some  societies."  But  what- 
ever was  true,  in  the  opinion  of  Asbury,  about  the  first  ser- 
mon, he  explicitly  says  in  another  place  :  "  The  first  Metho- 
dist church  in  New  York  was  built  in  1768  or  1769." 
Jesse  Lee  doubtless  had  as  wide  a  personal  acquaintance 
and  as  many  opportunities  for  information  as  any  one  of 
his  time.  He  says  :^"  Not  long  after  the  society  was 
formed  in  New  York,  Robert  Strawbridge,  from  Ireland, 
who  had  settled  in  Frederick  County,  in  the  State  of 
Maryland,  began  to  hold  meetings  in  public,  and  joined  a 
society  together  near  Pipe  Creek." 

Much  depends  upon  the  date  of  the  arrival  of  Straw- 
bridge  in  Maryland,  and  this  it  is  difficult  if  not  im- 
possible to  determine,  as  he  began  in  a  section  which 
did  not  admit  of  the  prompt  circulation  of  inteUigence. 
Strawbridge's  course  in  Ireland,  considered  in  connec- 
tion with  his  temperament,  renders  it  improbable  that 
he  would  long  remain  in  this  country  without  lifting 
up  his  voice.  In  his  native  land  he  was  an  itinerant, 
but  provoked  a  storm  of  opposition  and  persecution 
which  not  long  after  his  conversion  compelled  him  to 
remove  to  the  county  of  Sligo.  There  "  his  labors  were 
signally  blessed  of  God  through  a  considerable  district." 
He  preached  also  in  the  county  of  Cavan.  Aged  Metho- 
dists yet  living  in  Ireland  recall  descriptions  of  his  oratory 
which  they  heard  from  the  lips  of  their  parents  and  grand- 
parents. 

As  to  the  exact  date  of  his  emigration  to  this  country, 
John  Shillington,  Esq.,  whom  Dr.  Stevens  describes  as  the 

1  "  Short  History  of  the  Methodists,"  p.  25. 


Il6  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  v. 

best  Irish  authority  on  the  Methodist  history  and  antiquities 
of  his  country,  says  it  was  not  earher  than  i  764  or  later  than 
1765.  The  presumption  of  priority  to  Embury  would  be 
strong  if  it  were  not  more  than  counteracted  by  the  au- 
thority of  Pilmoor,  Garrettson,  Lee,  Henry  Roehm,  and 
George  Bourne.  Dr.  John  Atkinson,  in  "  The  Beginnings 
of  the  Wesleyan  Movement  in  America,"  exhaustively  dis- 
cusses this  question,  furnishing  cumulative  and  convincing 
proof  that  American  Methodism  began  in  New  York. 

On  Sam's  Creek  he  built  a  log  meeting-house.  It  was 
twenty-two  feet  square,  without  windows,  door,  or  floor, 
and,  though  long  occupied,  was  never  finished.  Beneath 
its  rude  pulpit  he  buried  two  of  his  children.  Like  Cap- 
tain Webb,  he  was  a  traveler,  and  extended  his  labors  into 
eastern  Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia.  The  Sam's 
Creek  society  soon  gave  four  or  five  preachers  to  Metho- 
dfism.  Strawbridge  founded  the  first  Methodism  in  Balti- 
more and  Harford  counties,  and  the  first  native  preacher 
of  the  continent,  Richard  Owen,  was  one  of  his  converts. 
Wherever  he  went  he  raised  up  preachers.  Substantial 
citizens  as  well  as  the  more  excitable  part  of  the  commu- 
nity responded  to  his  eflforts.  Thomas  Bond,  of  Harford 
County,  father  of  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Bond  and  of  the  noted 
Thomas  E.  Bond,  M.D.,  was  one  of  many  who  became 
Methodists  under  his  rousing  appeals.  Some  have  spoken 
of  Strawbridge  as  of  meager  talents  and  limited  education. 
While  he  had  little  learning  deri\-ed  from  the  schools,  he 
was  not  ignorant  in  any  sense  which  would  expose  him  to 
contempt  or  excite  lexity,  and  possessed  more  than  usual 
ability  in  important  respects. 

Though  little  has  come  down  to  the  present  time  con- 
cerning his  personal  characteristics,  fortunately  one  wit- 
ness, Freeborn  Garrettson,  preeminently  competent  to  esti- 
mate his  powers,  has  described  him.      Nathan  Bangs,  in 


APPEAL    TO    WESLEY  FOR  PREACHERS.  W] 

his  "  Life  of  Garrettson,"  extracts  an  account  of  an  even- 
ing which  the  latter  spent  with  Strawbridge  :  "  Mr.  Straw- 
bridge  came  to  the  house  of  a  gentleman,  near  where  I 
lived,  to  stay  all  night.  I  had  never  heard  him  preach, 
but  as  I  had  a  great  desire  to  be  in  company  with  a  per- 
son who  had  caused  so  much  talk  in  the  country,  I  went 
over  and  sat  and  heard  him  converse  till  nearly  midnight, 
and  when  I  retired  it  was  with  these  thoughts :  '  I  have 
never  spent  a  few  hours  more  agreeably  in  my  life.'  He 
spent  most  of  his  time  in  explaining  Scripture  and  in  giv- 
ing interesting  anecdotes."  ^ 

The  society  in  New  York  continued  to  prosper,  and 
Thomas  Taylor,  one  of  the  original  lessees  of  the  si'e 
of  the  Methodist  preaching-house  in  John  Street,  wrote 
to  John  Wesley,  on  the  nth  of  April,  1768,  an  im- 
portant letter,  in  which,  after  describing  Mr.  Whitefield's 
first,  second,  and  third  visits,  and  the  reaction  which  fol- 
lowed, he  says  :  "  The  above  appears  to  me  to  be  a  genuine 
account  of  the  state  of  religion  in  New  York  ten  months 
ago,  when  it  pleased  God  to  raise  up  Mr.  Embury  to  em- 
ploy his  talent  (which  for  several  years  had  been  hid,  as  it 
were,  in  a  napkin)  by  calling  sinners  to  repentance,  and 
exhorting  believers  to  let  their  light  shine  before  men." 
After  giving  particulars  of  the  work  and  vividly  describing 
its  reinforcement  by  the  arrival  of  Captain  Webb,  he  men- 
tions his  own  arrival  in  the  United  States  on  the  twenty- 
sixth  day  of  the  preceding  October,  and  his  forming  the 
acquaintance  of  Embury  and  others.  He  states  that  Em- 
bury "  lately  has  been  more  zealous  than  formerly,  the  con- 
sequence of  which  is  that  he  is  more  lively  in  preaching,  and 
his  gifts  as  well  as  graces  are  much  increased  "  ;  and  "  for 
six  weeks  past  our  house  would  not  contain  half  the  peo- 
ple."   He  then  details  plans  for  erecting  a  chapel,  and  says : 

^  Bangs's  "  Life  of  Garrettson,"  p.  28  (New  York,  1839). 


Il8  THE   MEIHODISTS.  [CiiAi'.  V. 

"  There  is  another  point  far  more  material,  and  in  vvhicli  1 
must  importune  your  assistance,  not  only  in  my  own  name, 
but  also  in  the  name  of  the  whole  society.  We  want  an 
able  and  experienced  preacher,  one  who  has  both  gifts 
and  graces  necessary  for  the  work."  He  commends  the 
work  accomplished  by  the  preaching  of  Captain  Webb  and 
Mr.  Embury,  but  discriminatingly  adds :  "  Although  they 
are  both  useful,  and  their  hearts  are  in  the  work,  they 
want  many  qualifications  for  such  an  undertaking ;  and  the 
progress  of  the  gospel  here  depends  much  upon  the  quali- 
fications of  preachers.  In  regard  to  a  preacher,  if  possible 
we  must  have  a  man  of  wisdom,  of  sound  faith,  and  a  good 
disciplinarian ;  one  whose  heart  and  soul  are  in  the  work ; 
and  I  doubt  not  but  by  the  goodness  of  God  such  a  flame 
will  be  soon  kindled  which  would  never  stop  until  it 
reached  the  great  South  Sea." 

Mr.  Taylor  informs  Wesley  that  they  could  not  purchase 
such  a  preacher  as  he  described,  though  they  might  make 
many  shifts  to  evade  temporary  inconveniences,  and  thus 
pathetically  appeals  to  him,  "  Dear  sir,  I  entreat  you,  for 
the  good  of  thousands,  use  your  utmost  endeavors  to  send 
one  over."  He  suggests  that  the  preacher  would  do  well 
to  sail  from  Boston,  Liverpool,  or  Dublin  in  the  month  of 
July  or  August,  as  in  that  case  he  would  have  fine  weather 
and  probably  arrive  in  September. 

The  closing  sentences  of  this  letter  exhibit  a  spirit  which 
would  win  success  and  put  to  shame  the  luxurious  apathy 
of  many  an  idle  minister:  "  With  respect  to  money  for  the 
payment  of  the  preachers'  passage  over:  if  they  could 
not  procure  it  we  would  sell  our  coats  and  shirts  to  pro- 
cure it  for  them.  I  most  earnestly  beg  an  interest  in 
your  prayers,  and  trust  you  and  many  of  our  brethren  will 
not  forget  the  church  in  this  wilderness."  i 

J  Bangs's  "  Life  of  Garrettson,"  pp.  16-20. 


ARRIVAL    OF  ROBERT   WILLIAMS.  II9 

Others  wrote  to  Wesley  begging  him  to  send  preach- 
ers, among  them  Captain  Webb  and  Thomas  Bell,  "  a 
humble  mechanic  who  had  worked  six  days  on  the  new 
chapel;"  and  by  private  correspondence  the  news  of  the 
progress  of  Methodism  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  had 
been  circulated  among  members  of  the  English  Wesleyan 
societies,  some  of  whom  had  been  contemplating  crossing 
to  identify  themselves  with  the  new  country,  but  had  hesi- 
tated, not  willing  to  relinquish  their  associations.  These 
made  preparation  to  sail,  and  Robert  Williams,  a  local 
preacher  whose  zeal  was  fired  by  the  accounts,  applied  to 
John  Wesley  for  authority  to  go  over  and  preach.  This 
was  given  on  the  express  stipulation  that  when  the  regu- 
larly commissioned  missionaries  to  be  sent  by  Wesley 
should  arrive,  he  would  labor  under  their  direction.  Wil- 
liams besought  his  friend  Ashton  to  emigrate  with  him, 
and  on  hearing  that  he  would  go,  sold  his  horse  to  pay  his 
debts,  and,  carrying  his  saddle-bags  on  his  arm,  started  for 
the  ship  with  a  loaf  of  bread  and  a  bottle  of  milk,  but  no 
money  for  his  passage.  Ashton  paid  the  expenses  of  both, 
and  in  due  time  they  landed  in  Norfolk,  Va. 

Williams,  who  was  primitive  in  his  character  and  meth- 
ods, at  once  began  to  preach.  We  are  indebted  for  what  is 
known  of  Mr.  Williams's  work  in  that  city  chiefly  to  Wake- 
ley's  "  Lost  Chapters,"  and  to  an  old  book  found  among  the 
early  remains  of  Methodism  in  New  York,  which  appears 
to  have  been  kept  after  the  method  of  Boswell,  Johnson's 
ideal  biographer.  Everything  that  transpired,  great  and 
small,  was  recorded,  so  that  the  reader  is  introduced  to 
Mr.  Williams  in  every  possible  capacity.  The  trustees  paid 
for  his  hat — "  a  beaver  hat  " — for  his  cloak,  for  his  trunk, 
for  his  physician,  his  barber's  bill,  his  letter-postage,  and 
for  his  horse-keeping.  The  bills  for  these  necessities  were 
sent  to  the  trustees,  and  thus  came  to  be  recorded  in  the 


I20  THE   METHODISTS.  [Ciiai>.  v. 

book.  These  accounts  parallel  in  method  those  kept 
by  the  early  Congregational  churches  of  New  England, 
where  the  number  of  glasses  of  liquor  drunk  by  some  of 
the  installing  councils  are  recorded  in  connection  with  the 
names  of  the  persons  who  drank  them. 

There  is  extant,  in  Williams's  handwriting,  a  "  love-feast 
ticket"  dated  October  i,  1769.  It  was  one  of  the  first 
given  in  this  country,  and,  according  to  a  tradition  in  the 
family,  the  figures  represent  the  number  of  members  of 
the  society  at  that  date. 

"Psalm  147.  II.      Oct.  I.  1769. 
"  The  Lord  taketh  pleasure  in  them  that  fear  him :  in 
those  that  hope  in  his  mercy. 

"  Hannah  Dean. 

"75. 
"  RoBT.  Williams. 

"  N.  York." 

An  entry  in  Wesley's  "  Journal,"  under  date  of  Friday, 
October  14,  1768  (vol.  iv.,  p.  293),  illustrates  the  catho- 
licity of  the  Methodist  movement,  the  conglomerate  char- 
acter of  the  first  settlers  of  this  country,  and  the  fra- 
ternity which  existed  between  evangelical  Christians :  "  I 
dined  with  Dr.  Wrangel,  one  of  the  king  of  Sweden's 
chaplains,  who  has  spent  several  years  in  Pennsylvania  [who 
had  been  engaged  in  preaching  to  Swedish  Americans]. 
His  heart  seemed  to  be  greatly  united  to  the  American 
Christians ;  and  he  strongly  appealed  for  sending  some  of 
our  preachers  to  help  them,  multitudes  of  whom  are  as 
sheep  without  a  shepherd." 

In  the  "Journal"  of  John  Wesley'  the  twenty-sixth 
conference,  at  Leeds,  is  mentioned  under  date  of  August 
1  Vol.  iv.,  p.  312,  American  edition. 


MEN  AND  MEANS.  121 

1st,  and  part  of  the  record  runs:  "On  Thursday  I  men- 
tioned the  case  of  our  brethren  in  New  York,  who  had 
built  the  first  Methodist  preaching-house  in  America,  and 
were  in  great  want  of  money,  and  much  more  of  preachers. 
Two  of  our  preachers,  Richard  Boardman  and  Joseph  Pil- 
moor,  wiUingly  offered  themselves  for  the  service  ;  by  whom 
we  determined  to  send  them  fifty  pounds,  as  a  token  of  our 
brotherly  love." 

Richard  Boardman  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  thirty-one 
years  of  age,  and  for  six  years  had  been  employed  by 
Wesley  as  a  traveling  preacher.  Joseph  Pilmoor  at  sixteen 
had  been  converted  by  the  preaching  of  Wesley,  and  was 
educated  by  him  at  the  Kingswood  school ;  after  his  admis- 
sion to  the  conference  he  had  traveled  four  years  in  Corn- 
wall and  Wales. 

Wesley  gave  them  twenty  pounds  for  their  passage, 
and  within  two  weeks  after  their  appointment  they  were 
ready  to  sail.  Notwithstanding  they  had  taken  the  advice 
of  Mr.  Taylor  as  to  the  time  of  sailing,  the  voyage  lasted 
nine  weeks,  and  it  was  not  until  October  2ist  that  they 
landed  at  the  village  of  Gloucester  Point,  on  the  Delaware, 
six  miles  below  Philadelphia. 

Dr.  Wrangel,  the  Swedish  missionary,  had  written  to 
Philadelphia  that  Wesley  had  appointed  two  missionaries, 
and  they  were  welcomed  by  the  society  and  Captain 
Webb.  Pilmoor  began  his  mission  in  the  United  States 
without  delay,  preaching  from  the  steps  of  the  old  State 
House  on  Chestnut  Street.  Ten  days  later  he  addressed 
the  following  letter  to  Wesley : 

"  Philadelphia,  October  31,  1789. 
"  Rev.  Sir  :    By   the   blessing  of   God   we   are   safely 
arrived  here,  after  a  tedious  passage  of  nine  weeks.     We 
were  not  a  little  surprised  to  find  Captain  Webb  in  town, 


122  THE   MKrilOniSTS.  [Chap.  v. 

and  a  society  of  about  one  liundred  members,  who  desire 
to  be  in  close  connection  with  you.  '  This  is  the  Lord's 
doing;  it  is  marvelous  in  our  eyes.' 

"  I  have  preached  several  times,  and  the  people  flock  to 
hear  in  multitudes.  Sunday  evening  I  went  out  upon  the 
common.  I  had  the  stage  appointed  for  the  horse-race 
for  my  pulpit,  and  I  think  between  four  and  five  thousand 
hearers,  who  heard  with  attention  still  as  night.  Blessed 
be  God  for  field-preaching!  When  I  began  to  talk  of 
preaching  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  people  thought 
it  would  not  answer  in  America ;  however,  I  resolved  to 
try,  and  I  had  a  very  good  congregation."  ^ 

Boardman,  after  preaching  several  times  to  increasing 
congregations,  journeyed  on  horseback  to  New  York. 
Passing  a  barrack — supposed  to  have  been  in  Trenton — he 
inquired  of  a  soldier  if  there  were  any  Methodists  there, 
and  was  answered,  "  Yes,  we  are  all  Methodists ;  that  is, 
we  would  be  glad  to  hear  a  Methodist  preach."  A  Pres- 
byterian church  was  secured,  and  the  ringing  of  the  bell 
at  an  unusual  hour  called  together  a  large  concourse,  to 
whom  an  impressive  sermon  was  preached,  the  efTect  of 
which  was  permanent,  though  attended  with  considerable 
excitement  at  the  time,  on  account  of  the  unusual  cir- 
cumstances. 

Boardman  began  his  mission  in  New  York  in  the  John 
Street  Church.  On  the  4th  of  November  he  wrote  to 
Wesley  that  only  a  third  part  of  those  who  attended  could 
obtain  entrance,  the  rest  being  glad  to  hear  from  without. 
This  letter  states  that  the  church  contained  "about  1700 
people."  This  is  undoubtedly  a  typographical  error  for  700. 
A  remarkable  sentence  in  the  letter  is :  '  Oh,  may  the  Most 
High  now  give  his  Son  the  heathen  for  his  inheritance ! 

1  Bangs,  vol.  i.,  p.  62. 


DEATH  OF    WHITEFIELD.  12^ 

The  number  of  blacks  that  attend  the  preaching  affects  me 
much." 

Boardman  usually  preached  four  times  a  week,  and  met 
the  society  on  Wednesday  night.  He  was  allowed  his 
board,  and  for  clothes  sixty  dollars  a  year,  paid  quarterly. 
Early  in  his  ministry  John  Mann  was  converted,  and  be- 
came a  preacher  of  wide  usefulness. 

A  peculiar  method  was  adopted  by  Boardman  and  Pil- 
moor  in  distributing  their  labors.  Three  times  a  year — in 
the  spring,  summer,  and  autumn — they  exchanged  between 
Philadelphia  and  New  York,  the  winter  term  lasting  five 
months.  From  both  these  cities  in  the  beginning  they 
made  long  excursions. 

Whitefield  arrived  in  Philadelphia  the  last  day  of  No- 
vember, 1 769,  and  gave  his  blessing  to  Boardman  and 
Pilmoor.  Less  than  one  year  afterward  he  died  of  asthma 
in  Newburyport,  having  preached  his  last  sermon  at  Exe- 
ter, N.  H.,  where,  carried  away  by  his  emotions,  he  pro- 
longed his  discourse  through  two  hours.  "  It  was  the  last 
of  that  series  of  mighty  sermons  which  had  been  ringing 
like  trumpet-blasts  for  thirty  years  over  England  and 
America."  At  Newburyport  the  people  gathered  about 
the  house  just  as  he  was  attempting  to  ascend  to  his  cham- 
ber. Exhausted  as  he  was,  his  heart  went  out  toward 
them,  and,  pausing  on  the  stairs,  he  exhorted  them. 
"  His  voice,  never,  perhaps,  surpassed  in  its  music  and 
pathos,  flowed  on  till  the  candle  which  he  held  in  his 
hand  burned  away  and  went  out  in  the  socket.  The 
next  morning  he  was  not,  for  God  had  taken  him."  To 
him  while  time  shall  last  must  be  given  the  credit  of 
introducing  the  spirit  of  Methodism  into  the  New  World. 
Wondrously  did  he  prepare  the  way  for  Wesley's  mis- 
sionaries. 

Pilmoor  reported  to  Wesley  in  the  spring  of  1770  that 


124  ^-^^  METHODISTS.  [CHai'.  v. 

in  New  York  the  pious  of  most  congregations  came  to 
hear  them ;  that  the  rehgion  of  Jesus  had  become  a  favor- 
ite topic  in  that  city ;  that  the  society  consisted  of  about 
a  hundred  members  besides  probationers ;  that  Boardman 
and  himself  could  not  go  much  into  the  country,  as  they 
had  more  work  in  the  cities  than  they  were  able  to  per- 
form. He  called  for  two  more  brethren,  assuring  Wes- 
ley that  "  they  need  not  be  afraid  of  wanting  the  comforts 
of  life;  for  the  people  are  very  hospitable  and  kind."  He 
added  that  when  he  and  Mr.  Boardman  came  they  put  them- 
selves and  the  brethren  to  great  expense,  but  the  situation 
was  difTerent,  and  now  everything  necessary  was  provided. 

Robert  Williams  by  this  time  had  gone  South  and  was 
cooperating  with  Strawbridge.  John  King  came  from 
London  to  America  late  in  i  769,  and  his  connection  with 
the  Methodists  appears  to  have  been  made  with  the  so- 
ciety in  Philadelphia,  where  he  declared  that  he  had  been 
called  of  God  to  preach  the  gospel.  As  he  had  no  li- 
cense from  Wesley,  nor  any  recommendation  from  the 
preachers  in  England,  Lee  informs  us  that  he  could  not  be 
admitted.  Undaunted,  however,  he  set  up  an  appointment 
for  himself  in  the  potter's  field,  where  members  of  the 
society  heard  him  ;  and  being  convinced  that  he  was  sin- 
cere, able,  and  zealous,  they  induced  Pilmoor  to  allow 
him  to  preach  a  trial  sermon,  after  which  he  was  licensed 
and  sent  to  Wilmington,  Del.,  "  to  exhort  among  a  few 
people  who  were  earnestly  seeking  the  Lord." 

He  proceeded  to  Maryland,  where  marked  success  at- 
tended his  labors  in  1770.  In  a  sermon  at  the  Forks  of 
Gunpowder,  in  Baltimore  County,  men  of  decided  char- 
acter were  converted,  among  them  James  J.  Baker,  who 
organized  a  class  and  opened  his  house  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  preachers  and  for  worship.  Later  the  third  Meth- 
odist chapel  in   Maryland  was  erected   upon  his   estate. 


EXPLOITS   OF  JOHN  KING.  125 

One  of  his  sons,  who  occupied  an  official  position  in  Balti- 
more, was  the  first  convert  of  King's  ministry  in  that  city. 
His  first  pulpit  was  a  blacksmith's  block  in  the  street ;  his 
next,  a  table.  That  occasion  being  a  militia  training-day, 
a  drunken  crowd  upset  the  table  and  threw  him  down ;  but 
the  commander  of  the  troops  restored  order,  and  King 
preached  so  powerfully  that  he  was  invited  to  speak  in  St. 
Paul's  Church.  Like  the  founder  of  Methodism  under 
similar  circumstances,  "  he  improved  that  opportunity  with 
such  fervor  as  to  receive  no  repetition  of  the  courtesy." 
The  record  is  that  he  used  his  stentorian  voice  to  its  utmost 
capacity ;  that  "  he  made  the  dust  to  fly  from  the  old  vel- 
vet cushion."  Wesley  wrote  to  him:  "Scream  no  more, 
at  the  peril  of  your  soul.  God  now  warns  you  by  me, 
whom  he  has  set  over  you.  Speak  as  earnestly  as  you 
can,  but  do  not  scream.  Speak  with  all  your  heart,  but 
with  a  moderate  voice.  It  was  said  of  our  Lord,  '  He  shall 
not  cry;  '  the  word  properly  means  he  shall  not  scream. 
Herein  be  a  follower  of  me,  as  I  am  of  Christ.  I  often 
speak  loud,  often  vehemently,  but  I  never  scream.  I  never 
strain  myself ;  I  dare  not ;  I  know  it  would  be  a  sin  against 
God  and  my  own  soul.  .  .  .  Your  last  letter  was  written 
in  a  very  wrong  spirit.  If  you  cannot  take  advice  from 
others  surely  you  might  take  it  from  your  affectionate 
brother." 

Notwithstanding  Pilmoor's  statement  to  Wesley  that 
he  and  his  colleague  were  chiefly  confined  to  the  cities, 
within  a  year  the  pressing  calls  for  help  led  him  out  into 
the  country.  In  the  summer  of  i  770  he  was  aiding  Straw- 
bridge,  Owen,  King,  and  Williams  in  Maryland. 

There  is  no  reference  to  America  in  Wesley's  lists  of 
appointments  until  1770,  when  the  names  of  Pilmoor, 
Boardman,  Williams,  and  John  King  appear.  Captain 
Webb  was  still  in  the  colonies,  continually  appealing  to 


126  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  v. 

Wesley  for  more  preachers.  In  1771  they  reported  three 
hundred  and  sixteen  members.  Wesley,  though  in  a  sea 
of  troubles  growing  out  of  the  separation  of  the  Calvinists 
from  the  Arminians,  said  to  the  conference  :  "  Our  brethren 
in  America  call  aloud  for  help.  Who  are  willing  to  go 
over  to  help  them?"  Five  offered,  of  whom  but  two 
could  be  spared. 

Francis  Asbury  was  one  of  these,  son  of  an  English 
farmer  and  gardener,  whose  wife,  a  diligent  reader,  having 
lost  her  daughter,  became  intensely  religious,  training  her 
remaining  child  as  only  a  pious  mother  who  had  centered 
all  her  affection  upon  a  son  could  do.  When  but  seven 
years  of  age  he  was  an  interested  reader  of  the  Bible.  At 
thirteen  and  a  half  he  began  to  learn  a  trade.  Before  he 
was  fourteen  he  was  awakened  by  the  conversation  of  a 
man  not  a  Methodist,  and  had  the  opportunity  of  listening 
to  the  noted  Calvinistic  Methodists,  and  of  reading  their 
books,  especially  the  sermons  of  Whitefield.  Wherever 
the  Methodists  appeared,  whether  Arminian  or  Cahinistic, 
their  preaching  was  the  innocent  occasion  of  inciting  vio- 
lence, which  increased  to  such  an  extent  as  to  place  "  the 
whole  region  in  a  state  little  short  of  civil  war."  "  Broken 
relics  of  ruined  furniture  are  still  kept  in  Methodist  fami- 
lies of  the  county  [Staffordshire]  as  sacred  mementos  of 
those  days  of  the  fiery  trial  of  their  fathers."  ^ 

Francis  Asbury  went  to  Wednesbury  to  attend  their 
services,  where  he  was  surprised  to  hear  prayers  and  ser- 
mons delivered  without  notes  or  books,  and  was  impressed 
by  the  devotion  of  the  people.  He  fell  under  deep  con- 
viction, and  when  praying  with  a  companion  in  his  father's 
barn  he  had  an  experience  which  he  records  in  these 
words :  "  I  believe  that  the  Lord  pardoned  my  sins  and 
justified  my  soul." 

1  Stevens. 


ASBURY  SAILS  FOR   AMERICA.  1 27 

He  began  to  hold  meetings,  led  a  class,  then  preached, 
but,  because  of  diffidence,  it  was  some  months  after  he 
preached  before  he  publicly  prayed  in  Methodist  meet- 
ing-houses. His  intelligence,  fidelity,  and  zeal  being 
manifest  to  all,  he  was  licensed  as  a  local  preacher,  and 
after  acting  for  some  years  in  that  capacity  while  pursuing 
his  business,  when  he  was  between  twenty-one  and  twenty- 
two  years  of  age  he  consecrated  himself  wholly  to  God 
and  his  work. 

He  had  never  left  his  ministerial  work  to  attend  the 
Annual  Conference  during  the  five  years  that  he  had  been 
a  traveling  preacher,  but  had  been  thinking  two  months 
before  this  session  "  that  America  was  destined  to  be  his 
field  of  labor." 

Wesley  discerned  in  him  qualities  eminently  fitted  for 
leadership.  His  parents,  though  sorrowing  on  account  of 
the  parting,  did  not  oppose  his  going,  his  mother  especially 
recognizing  the  hand  of  God.  He  sailed  from  Bristol  on 
the  4th  of  September,  1771,  the  money  for  his  expenses 
having  been  provided  by  Methodists,  who  gave  him  clothes 
and  ten  pounds.  He  preached  as  often  as  possible  on  the 
voyage,  and  spent  his  leisure  time  "  in  prayer,  retirement, 
and  reading."  ^  The  books  that  Asbury  was  reading  were 
Sellon's  "  Answer  to  Elisha  Cole  on  the  Sovereignty  of 
God,"  Mr.  De  Renty's  Life,  part  of  Mr.  Norris's  Works, 
Mr.  Edwards  on  "  The  Work  of  God  in  New  England," 
"  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  the  Bible,  Mr.  Wesley's  "  Sermons," 
and  Fletcher's  "  Appeals."  Richard  Wright,  his  compan- 
ion, was  comparatively  unknown,  and  had  been  in  the 
ministry  but  one  year.  They  reached  Philadelphia,  Oc- 
tober 27th,  after  more  than  fifty  days  of  tossing  on  the 
sea. 

Dr.  Bangs  estimates  that  at  this  date  there  were  about 

J-  "Asbury's  Journal." 


I2<S  THE   METHODISTS.  [CiiAr.  v. 

six  hundred  Methodists  in  the  colonies,  and  at  least  ten 
preachers  besides  Wesley's  missionaries. 

The  night  after  Asbury's  arrival  in  Philadelphia  he  at- 
tended service  and  listened  to  Pilmoor,  who  preached 
in  an  edifice  still  in  existence,  which  was  built  by  a  Ger- 
man Reformed  society  and  sold  in  1770  to  Miles  Penning- 
ton, one  of  the  members  of  the  class  formed  by  Captain 
Webb  two  years  previously.  Though  Asbury  does  not 
speak  specifically  of  preaching,  he  says :  "  I  felt  my  mind 
opened  to  the  people  and  my  tongue  loosed  to  speak." 
A  watch-night  service  was  held  November  4th.  Pilmoor 
preached,  and  "  very  few  left  the  solemn  place  till  the 
conclusion.  Toward  the  end  a  plain  man  spoke,  who  came 
out  of  the  country,  and  his  words  went  with  great  power 
to  the  souls  of  the  people." 

That  Asbury  had  preached  several  times  is  to  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  when  about  to  set  out  for  New  York  he 
records  that  he  preached  at  Philadelphia  his  last  sermon, 
November  6th,  and  adds  that  "  this  also  was  a  night  of 
power  to  my  own  and  many  other  souls." 

He  preached  in  the  court-house,  in  Burlington,  N.  J., 
and  on  the  way  thither  met  with  "  one  P.  Van  Pelt,"  who 
had  heard  him  preach  in  Philadelphia,  and  invited  liim  to 
accompany  him  to  his  house  on  Staten  Island,  where  he 
preached,  reaching  New  York  on  Monday,  the  12th. 
Here  he  met  Richard  Boardman,  who  was  not  well,  and 
after  consultation,  having  doubtless  had  an  understanding 
to  that  effect  with  Wesley,  Asbury  assumed  the  practical 
control  of  the  work;  and  his  "Journal"  recounts  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  energy,  decision,  and  method  which  character- 
ized his  subsequent  work.  He  expresses  regret  that  both 
he  and  Boardman  should  remain  in  New  York  ;  affirms  that 
he  had  not  yet  the  thing  which  he  sought — a  circulation  of 
preachers  to  avoid  popularity  and  partiality ;  that  he  ex- 


AMENITIES  AND    TOILS.  1 29 

pected  trouble ;  that  the  brethren  seemed  unwilling  to 
leave  the  cities,  but  he  would  set  the  example ;  that  he 
was  determined  that  no  man  should  bias  him  with  soft 
words  and  fair  speeches. 

He  went  to  Westchester  on  the  24th,  twenty  miles 
from  New  York,  and  was  permitted  by  the  mayor  to 
preach  in  the  court-house,  which  he  did  morning  and 
afternoon,  conducting  a  meeting  at  West  Farms  in  the 
evening. 

The  strong  affection  existing  between  Methodists  at  that 
early  day  led  to  singular  entries  in  "  Asbury's  Journal." 
November  7th,  in  Philadelphia,  he  met  Peter  Van  Pelt  for 
the  first  time.  Less  than  two  months  afterward  he  re- 
cords:  "From  this  I  went  to  my  old  friend  V.  P.'s,  who 
received  me  with  his  former  kindness." 

From  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  this  country  Francis 
Asbury  seemed  to  be  singularly  liable  to  various  forms 
of  disease,  and  his  "  Journal  "  abounds  with  descriptions  of 
numerous  attacks,  and  of  the  medical  treatment  to  which 
he  was  subjected.  He  traveled  and  preached  constantly, 
having  exciting  adventures.  Wherever  there  was  a  jail  he 
visited  it,  preaching  when  permitted.  Reactions  from  ex- 
treme Calvinism  were  among  the  principal  impediments 
he  had  to  encounter  among  the  intelligent.  The  Friends 
treated  him  kindly,  as  did  many  of  the  Presbyterians.  On 
a  certain  Friday  he  "  dined  with  Mr.  R.,  who  cannot  keep 
negroes  for  conscience'  sake." 

Though  courageous,  occasionally  a  man-fearing  spirit 
paralyzed  him.  Of  such  a  case  he  says,  "  I  have  nothing 
to  plead  to  palliate  my  omission  of  prayer,"  and  implores 
the  forgiveness  of  God.  Whenever  possible  he  preached 
on  the  occasion  of  executions.  At  Chester,  Pa.,  when 
four  prisoners  were  to  be  hanged,  John  King  preached  and 
Asbury  prayed. 


I30  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  \. 

After  extended  tours  in  the  Middle  States  he  met  Cap- 
tain Webb  and  Mr.  Boardman  in  Philadelphia.  Board- 
man  was  nominally  superintendent,  and  prepared  a  plan 
of  labor  covering  several  succeeding  months :  Board- 
man  was  to  go  east  as  far  as  Boston,  Pilmoor  to  Virginia, 
Richard  Wright  to  New  York,  and  Asbury  to  remain 
three  months  in  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia.  By  these 
means  it  was  proposed  to  distribute  the  labors  of  seven 
preachers  over  as  many  hundred  miles.  Asbury  method- 
ically arranged  his  routes  over  a  circuit  having  Philadelphia 
as  the  center,  and  reaching  as  far  north\\ard  as  Trenton, 
N.  J.  Three  months  later  the  plan  was  reconstructed  by 
Boardman,  who  located  himself  in  Philadelphia  and  As- 
bury in  New  York. 

Scarcely  an  event  of  importance  occurred  without  As- 
bury's  availing  himself  of  the  occasion.  He  preached  two 
6r  three  times  every  day,  and  yet  often  accused  himself  of 
a  lack  of  zeal,  and  blamed  his  spiritual  condition  for  a  want 
of  life  when  his  bodily  strength  was  exhausted  or  weak- 
ened by  disease.  Sometimes  he  recognized  the  cause  of 
his  depression,  as  appears  from  this  entry :  "  My  mind 
was  greatly  depressed.  Not  on  account  of  any  outward, 
known  sin ;  but  partly  from  the  state  of  my  body,  and 
partly  from  the  deep  sense  of  the  very  great  work  in  which 
I  am  employed." 

In  December  of  the  same  year,  while  in  Kent  County, 
he  urged  Robert  Williams  to  proceed  to  Virginia,  and 
Pilmoor  to  penetrate  as  far  south  as  possible.  Among 
other  important  centers  which  the  latter  reached  was  Savan- 
nah, and  the  descendants  of  those  whom  he  led  to  Christ 
are  to  this  day  in  active  cooperation  with  Methodism. 

On  the  loth  of  October,  1772,  Asbury  received  a  letter 
from  Wesley  appointing  him  "  assistant  or  superintend- 
ent."    Wesley's  method  in  England  was  to  call  the  cir- 


PARSON   VERSUS   PREACHER.  I31 

cuit  preachers  helpers,  and  the  superintendents  of  circuits, 
assistants. 

While  he  was  in  Kent  County  a  minister  of  the  Church 
of  England  demanded  by  what  authority  he  preached. 
Asbury  informed  him  that  he  was  one  of  Mr.  Wesley's 
preachers.  Said  the  clergyman  :  "  I  have  the  sole  author- 
ity over  this  people,  and  the  care  of  their  souls,  and  you 
can  not  and  shall  not  preach ;  if  you  do  I  will  proceed 
against  you  according  to  law."  Asbury  with  dignity  in- 
formed him  that  he  had  no  respect  for  his  assumed  author- 
ity ;  that  he  came  there  to  preach,  and  should  do  so.  Said 
the  clergyman,  "  You  will  create  a  schism  and  draw  the 
people  from  their  w^ork."  "  Do  not  fairs  and  horse-races 
hinder  the  people?  "  said  Asbury.  Then  said  the  clergy- 
man, "What  is  the  real  object  of  your  coming?"  "To 
turn  sinners  to  God."  "  Cannot  I  do  this  as  well  as  you  ?  " 
asked  the  parson.  Asbury  then  solemnly  declared,  "  I 
have  authority  from  God;"  and  added,  "  I  do  not  preach 
to  invalidate  your  authority,  and  I  do  not  wish  to  dispute 
with  you."  But  he  told  Asbury  that  he  had  business  with 
him,  and  became  violently  enraged.  Asbury  then  began 
the  meeting,  and  u-rged  the  people  to  repent.  The  parson 
remained  to  hear  him,  but  at  the  conclusion  said  to  those 
present  that  they  did  wrong  in  attending.  Thus  records 
Asbury :  "  He  said  I  spoke  against  learning,  whereas  I 
only  spoke  to  this  purpose — when  a  man  turns  from  all 
sin,  he  will  adorn  every  character  in  life,  both  in  church 
and  state."  ^ 

Numerous  conversions  followed  his  preaching,  as  well  as 
that  of  his  colleagues,  and  the  results  are  well  described 
by  Asbury,  who  never  fails  to  give  due  credit  to  those 
who  had  preceded  him  :  "  The  Lord  hath  done  great  things 
for  these  people,  notwithstanding  the  weakness  of  the  in- 

1  "Asbury's  Journal,"  vol.  i.,  p.  55. 


13.2  THE  METIIODISrS.  [Chap.  \. 

struments  and  some  little  irregularities.  Men  who  neither 
feared  God  nor  regarded  man — swearers,  liars,  cock- 
fighters,  card-players,  horse- racers,  drunkards,  etc. — are 
now  so  changed  as  to  become  new  men  ;  and  they  are 
filled  with  the  praises  of  God.  This  is  the  Lord's  work; 
and  it  is  marvelous  in  our  eyes.  Not  unto  us,  O  Lord, 
not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy  name  be  all  the  glory."  ' 

Returning  from  the  South  in  company  with  John  King, 
and  passing  among  the  societies  which  had  been  formed 
on  the  western  shore,  he  crossed  and  recrossed  the  Sus- 
quehanna River,  coming  in  Christmas  week  to  the  resi- 
dence of  J.  Presbury.  There  he  held  the  first  Quarterly 
Conference  of  which  there  is  any  account.  After  a  ser- 
mon the  following  propositions  were  considered : 

"  I.  What  are  our  collections?  (We  find  them  sufficient 
to  defray  our  expenses.) 

"2.  How  are  our  preachers  stationed?  (Here  follow 
the  assignments  of  Strawbridge,  Owen,  King,  Webster, 
Rawlings,  and  Asbury.) 

"  3.  Shall  we  be  strict  in  our  society  meetings  and  not 
admit  strangers?     (Agreed.) 

"4.  Shall  we  drop  preaching  in  the. daytime  through 
the  week?     (Not  agreed  to.) 

"  5.  Will  the  people  be  contented  without  our  adminis- 
tering the  sacrament?  (John  King  was  neuter,  Straw- 
bridge  pleaded  much  for  the  ordinances,  and  so  did  the 
people,  who  appeared  to  be  much  biased  by  him.  Asbury 
says  that  he  would  not  agree  to  it,  but  Mr.  Boardman  had 
yielded  to  them  at  a  previous  quarterly  meeting,  and  that 
he  was  obliged  to  connive  at  some  things  for  the  sake  of 
peace.)" 

Other  discussions  related  to  the  collections  to  pay  the 
board  and  expenses  of  preachers.     Asbury  states  that  they 

1  "A.sbury's  Journal,"  vol.  i.,  p.  49. 


STIPENDS— CRITICISMS— HOSPITALITY.  133 

examined  carefully  into  the  moral  character  of  the  preach- 
ers and  exhorters,  and  found  all  what  they  should  be,  ex- 
cept one  exhorter,  and  of  him  "  they  had  great  hopes." 
Strawbridge  received  forty  dollars  "quarterage,"  Asbury 
and  King  thirty  dollars  each. 

Asbury  now  began  to  record  his  criticisms  of  the  various 
preachers,  and  as  he  was  candid  in  expressing  his  opinion 
in  conversation  with  those  concerned,  the  educational  effect 
of  his  advice  upon  the  infant  church  was  of  incalculable 
value.  Of  William  Watters  he  said  :  "  He  spoke  with  great 
care,  but  with  little  depth.  He  may  improve  and  make  a 
useful  preacher  in  time."  "  I  heard  Isaac  Rawlings  ex- 
hort. His  exhortation  was  coarse  and  loud  enough,  though 
.  with  some  depth.  I  gave  him  a  little  advice,  which  he 
seemed  willing  to  take."  ^ 

Asbury,  at  the  beginning  of  1773,  made  his  headquar- 
ters in  Baltimore.  For  some  time  after  the  first  preacher 
lifted  up  his  voice  in  Baltimore  there  had  been  no  disposi- 
tion on  the  part  of  people  generally  to  open  their  houses 
for  Methodist  meetings  or  to  entertain  the  preachers. 
Most  of  the  sermons  had  been  delivered  in  the  market- 
house,  or  on  street  corners,  and  the  preachers  had  lodged 
at  taverns  or  in  the  country,  where  adherents  were  more 
numerous.  Matters  in  this  respect  had  begun  to  improve 
when  Asbury  arrived,  for  many  converts  from  the  country 
had  moved  to  the  city,  and  the  conviction  had  grown  that 
Methodism  was  to  be  permanently  established.  Captain 
Patten,  an  Irishman,  was  the  first  citizen  to  open  his  house 
for  the  preaching  of  Asbury. 

A  sail-loft  had  been  secured  for  public  services,  but 
Methodism  had  been  without  a  responsible  head.  Asbury 
proceeded  to  "  settle  the  classes,"  and  to  establish  the  order 

^  Proper  names  in  those  early  times  were  spelled  variously.  This  man's 
appears  as  in  "Asbury's  Journal,"    and  as  RoUin,  Rawlins,  and  Rollins. 


134  ^^^^^-    METHODISTS.  [Ciiai-.  v. 

and  certainty  that  characterized  all  institutions  founded  by 
John  Wesley.  Though  some  chafed  under  the  rigor  of  the 
administration,  prosperity  continued  until  soon  it  was  neces- 
sary to  erect  a  church.  This  led  to  the  purchase  of  a  lot 
sixty  by  seventy- five  feet,  on  the  corner  of  Strawberry 
Alley  and  Fleet  Street,  on  which  a  meeting-house  was 
begun  November  17,  1773.  Two  lots  were  purchased  and 
a  church  commenced  in  Lovely  Lane,  April  18,  1774. 
According  to  Dr.  Hamilton,^  it  is  uncertain  which  was  first 
finished. 

Asbury  formed  for  himself  a  circuit  including  Baltimore 
and  extending  over  six  counties.  It  comprised  twenty- 
four  appointments,  and  he  traversed  it  once  in  three  weeks, 
preaching,  exhorting,  classifying,  and  holding  quarterly 
meetings. 

Robert  Williams  was  the  apostle  of  Methodism  in  Vir- 
ginia. He  opened  his  commission  in  Norfolk,  where  he 
preached  with  such  energy  and  fire  that  he  was  supposed 
to  be  insane,  and  the  people  were  afraid  of  him ;  but  after 
his  second  sermon,  their  hearts  became  deeply  touched, 
and  they  received  him  into  their  houses. 

He  was  aided  by  the  Rev.  Devereaux  Jarratt,  an  Epis- 
copal clergyman,  who  wrote  an  account  of  the  revival  in 
Sussex  and  Brunswick  counties,  in  which  he  commended 
the  labors  of  Williams  and  others.  Jarratt,  like  Wesley, 
formed  the  converts  into  a  society,  and  while  he  acknowl- 
edged the  value  of  the  labors  of  the  Methodists  to  him, 
they  have  gratefully  remembered  and  in  all  their  histories 
recorded  his  kindness  to  them.  Williams  was  equally 
effective  in  North  Carolina. 

The  manner  in  which  Asbury  dealt  with  men  individu- 
ally must  not  be  oxerlooked  in  an  exposition  of  the 
elements  which  gave  early  Methodism  its  power.      In  the 

1  In  the  "  Methodist  Quarterly  Review"  for  1856. 


SOWING  BESIDE  ALL    WATERS.  1 35 

account  of  his  travels  through  "  the  Jerseys,"  he  says:  "  I 
met  with  W.  B.,  a  man  who  has  a  great  regard  for  us,  but 
seems  to  be  too  much  taken  up  with  worldly  cares.  But 
speaking  faithfully  and  closely  to  him,  I  showed  him  the 
deceitfulness  of  riches  in  producing  a  spirit  of  independence 
toward  God,  hardness  of  heart,  and  pride  in  its  various 
forms,  while  they  promise  us  safety  and  happiness." 

Following  the  example  and  precept  of  Wesley,  Asbury 
went  to  the  Established  Church  for  the  sacraments,  and 
encouraged  his  converts  to  do  likewise.  Frequently  the 
Methodists  were  insulted  by  unsympathizing  clergymen. 
In  Burlington,  N.  J.,  he  went  to  the  church  in  order  to  re- 
ceive the  sacrament.  As  he  was  a  man  of  distinguished 
presence,  and  by  this  time  well  known,  the  parson  gave 
a  strange  discourse  "full  of  inconsistency  and  raillery." 
"  Leaving  him  to  answer  for  his  own  conduct,  [Asbury] 
took  no  further  notice  of  it,  but  preached  at  night  from 
these  words:  'The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things 
of  the  Spirit  of  God,'  and  showed  first  what  the  things  of 
the  Spirit  of  God  are ;  secondly,  described  the  natural 
man ;  and  thirdly,  showed  how  they  appear  to  be  foolish- 
ness to  him,  and  that  he  cannot  know  them  by  the  strength 
of  his  intellect  or  acquired  abilities."  As  usual,  the  tirades 
of  clerical  opponents  reacted  in  favor  of  those  whom  they 
endeavored  to  discredit. 

The  sky  was  not  everywhere  bright.  Some  of  Asbury's 
colleagues  were  restless  under  his  strong  hand.  Richard 
Wright,  Joseph  Pilmoor,  and  others  had  written  to  him  in 
a  severe  tone.  Asbury  had  explained  to  Wesley  the  ne- 
cessity of  discipline  and  of  more  laborers,  imploring  him 
to  come  himself,  and  Wesley  seems  to  have  contemplated 
a  visit  in  order  that  he  might  understand  the  true  state  of 
things ;  for  Asbury  J  states  that  he  received  a  letter  from 

1  "Journal,"  May  6,  1773,  vol.  i.,  p.  72. 


136  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  v. 

Wesley  informing  him  that  tiie  time  of  iiis  coming  over  to 
America  "  is  not  yet." 

Captain  Webb  had  gone  to  England  in  1772,  after  six 
years'  labor  in  the  United  States.  Wesley  heard  him,  and 
the  captain  attended  the  conference  at  Leeds,  where  he 
urged  the  appointment  of  the  best  men  to  America. 

Thomas  Rankin  and  George  Shadford  were  sent  over. 
The  former  was  a  Scotchman,  converted  under  the  preach- 
ing of  George  Whitefield,  but  afterward,  hearing  John 
Wesley  and  Alexander  Mather,  became  a  local  preacher, 
and  in  1761  an  itinerant  of  rare  energy  and  marked  suc- 
cess. For  ten  years  he  had  encountered  opposition,  ad- 
ministered Wesleyan  discipline  with  tact  and  vigor,  and 
preached  with  impressiveness,  increasing  and  consolidating 
the  societies  wherever  he  went.  Among  his  converts  was 
a  curate  of  the  English  church. 

Mr.  Wesley  appointed  him  superintendent  of  the  entire 
work  of  Methodism  in  America,  and  Rankin  chose  as  his 
companion  Shadford,  who  had  been  a  soldier,  whom  he 
thus  describes :  "  My  much-esteemed  friend  and  brother, 
whose  uprightness,  piety,  and  usefulness  I  had  proved  on 
several  circuits." 

There  is  nothing  in  the  records  of  early  Methodism 
which  exhibits  the  sublimity  of  the  conceptions  of  John 
Wesley  concerning  the  work  and  his  relation  to  it  more 
dramatically  than  his  letter  to  George  Shadford:^ 

"  Dear  George  :  The  time  is  arrived  for  you  to  em- 
bark for  America.  You  must  go  down  to  Bristol,  where 
you  will  meet  with  T.  Rankin,  Captain  Webb,  and  his  wife. 
"  I  let  you  loose,  George,  on  the  great  continent  of 
America.  Publish  your  message  in  the  open  face  of  the 
sun,  and  do  all  the  good  you  can.      I  am,  dear  George, 

'*  Yours  affectionately, 

"John  \\'eslev." 

1  Wesley's  Works,  vol.  vii.,  pp.  99,  100. 


POWERFUL   REINFORCEMENTS.  I  37 

They  sailed  on  Good  Friday,  April  9,  1773,  accompa- 
nied by  Joseph  Yearbry,  an  English  local  preacher. 

These  two  missionaries  landed  in  Philadelphia  on  the 
third  day  of  June,  and  immediately  commenced  work. 
When  Asbury,  on  the  night  after  their  arrival,  heard 
Rankin  from  the  text,  "  I  have  set  before  thee  an  open 
door,  and  no  man  can  shut  it,"  he  wrote:  "  He  will  not  be 
admired  as  a  preacher;  but  as  a  disciplinarian  he  will  fill 
his  place."    Subsequently  his  entries  were  more  favorable. 

Rankin  and  Asbury  arrived  in  New  York  the  12th  of 
June,  where  on  the  next  morning  the  latter  preached. 
Rankin  found  so  many  indications  of  trouble  that  he  was 
cast  down,  but  during  the  preaching  of  Asbury  was  much 
comforted.  The  text,  Ruth  ii.  4,  "  Behold,  Boaz  came 
from- Bethlehem,  and  said  unto  the  reapers.  The  Lord  be 
with  you.  And  they  answered  him,  The  Lord  bless 
thee,"  used  in  the  spiritualizing  method  then  common, 
suggested  a  sermon  of  singular  appropriateness.  In  the 
afternoon,  Rankin,  Asbury,  Captain  VVebb,  and  Wright 
went  to  St.  Paul's  Church  and  received  the  sacrament. 
During  the  week  they  separated,  Webb  going  to  Albany 
and  Asbury  to  New  Rochelle,  where  he  remained  some 
time,  preaching  every  day  and  three  times  on  Sunday^ 
On  his  return  to  New  York  on  the  23d  he  found  Rankin 
had  been  "  well  employed  in  settling  matters  pertaining  to 
the  society." 

A  revival  of  religion  was  in  progress,  characterized  by 
manifestations  of  fervor  and  epidemic  excitement  so  un- 
usual that  Rankin  thought  them  extravagant.  An  issue  was 
raised  upon  this  point,  the  effects  of  which  were  far-reach- 
ing. When  he  came  to  this  country,  Asbury  left  preju- 
dices and  prepossessions  behind,  determining  thoroughly 
to  identify  himself  with  the  people  and  their  institutions. 
Rankin's  ideas  of  loyalty  and  government  were  exhibited 
in   two   forms:    he   magnified   authoritv   until    those   who 


138  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap,  v. 

thought  that  Asbury's  hand  was  of  iron  (though  in  general 
he  endeavored  to  prevail  by  conciliating  and  compromis- 
ing wherever  principle  was  not  involved)  found  that  of 
Rankin  to  be  steel.  Their  differences  upon  the  subject  of 
revivals  is  well  stated  by  Strickland :  "  Rankin  manifested 
an  opposition  to  the  spirit  of  revivals,  asserting  that  they 
tended  to  disgrace  religion  by  the  destruction  of  order. 
In  this  he  was  promptly  met  by  Asbury,  who,  although 
he  conceded  that  some  enthusiasm  and  extravagance 
might  occasionally  exist  in  time  of  revival,  yet  deemed  it 
injudicious  to  animadvert  with  severity  on  those  exhibi- 
tions of  passionate  excitement  which  more  or  less  accom- 
panied deep  and  lasting  revivals  of  religion."^ 

While  Rankin  remained  in  New  York,  Shadford  had 
spent  a  month  in  New  Jersey,  adding  thirty-five  to  the 
societies. 

1  "  Life  and  Times  of  Francis  Asbury,"  p.  loo. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

EARLY    AMERICAN    CONFERENCES. 

On  the  iith  of  July,  1773,  Asbury  left  New  York  for 
Philadelphia,  Rankin  meanwhile  having  called  together  the 
preachers  for  conference.  Philadelphia,  which  was  destined 
to  become  famous  as  the  seat  of  the  first  Continental  Con- 
gress, now  had  a  privilege  which  even  those  inclined  to 
despise  the  day  of  small  things  considered  an  honor — 
that  of  entertaining  the  first  American  Methodist  confer- 
ence. 

Asbury's  and  Rankin's  journals  settle  the  date  as  July 
14th  ;  yet,  as  Dr.  Stevens  remarks,  it  is  surprising"  how  many 
errors  regarding  this  important  event  have  appeared  in 
subsequent  records.  Bangs  in  his  history  gives  July  4th, 
and  that  was  Sunday.  The  "  Life  of  William  Waters," 
the  first  American  preacher,  assigns  the  date  to  June, 
without  day,  and  Wakeley's  "Lost  Chapters"  to  July 
16th. 

Asbury  did  not  appear  at  the  conference  till  the  second 
day.  His  arrival  increased  the  number  present  to  ten, 
which  was  the  number  in  attendance  upon  Wesley's  first 
conference  in  England,  twenty-nine  years  before.  Those 
present  were  all  Europeans.^ 

This  being  the  first  of  the  conferences  of  which  hundreds 

1  Thomas  Rankin,  Francis  Asbury,  Richard  Boardman,  Joseph  Pihiioor, 
Richard  Wright,  George  Shadford,  Captain  Thomas  Webb,  John  King,  Abra- 
ham Whitworth,  and  Joseph  Yearbry. 

139 


I40  J'liE    METhOJ:>IS-JS.  [Cll.\l^  \  i. 

are  now  held  every  year,  the  minutes  constitute  a  docu- 
ment essential  to  those  who  would  trace  the  evolution  of 
American  Methodism  as  an  ecclesiastical  organization. 

^'Minutes  of  Some  Conversations  betiveen  the  PreaeJiers  in 
Connection  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  John  Wesley,  PJiila- 
delph ia,  June,  1773. 

"  The  following  queries  were  proposed  to  every  preacher : 

"  I.  Ought  not  the  authority  of  Mr.  Wesley  and  that 
Conference  to  extend  to  the  preachers  and  people  in 
America  as  well  as  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland? 

' '  A  ns.   Yes. 

"  2.  Ought  not  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  Meth- 
odists, as  contained  in  the  minutes,  to  be  the  sole  rule  of 
our  conduct,  who  labor  in  the  connection  with  Mr.  Wesley 
in  America? 

"  Ans.  Yes. 

"  3.  If  so,  does  it  not  follow  that  if  any  preachers  devi- 
ate from  the  Minutes  we  can  have  no  fellowship  with  them 
till  they  change  their  conduct? 

"Ans.   Yes. 

"  The  following  rules  were  agreed  to  by  all  the  preach- 
ers present : 

"  I.  Every  preacher  who  acts  in  connection  with  Mr. 
Wesley  and  the  brethren  who  labor  in  America  is  strictly 
to  avoid  administering  the  ordinances  of  baptism  and  the 
Lord's  Supper. 

"  2.  All  the  people  among  whom  we  labor  to  be  ear- 
nestly exhorted  to  attend  the  Church  and  receive  the  ordi- 
nances there  ;  but  in  a  particular  manner  to  press  the  peo- 
ple in  Maryland  and  Virginia  to  the  observance  of  this 
minute. 

"  3.   No  person  or  persons  to  be  admitted  into  our  love- 


MINUTES   OF  FIRST  CONFERENCE.  141 

feasts  oftener  than  twice  or  thrice  unless  they  become 
members ;  and  none  to  be  admitted  to  the  society  meet- 
ings more  than  thrice. 

"  4.  None  of  the  preachers  in  America  to  reprint  any 
of  Mr.  Wesley's  books  without  his  authority  (when  it  can 
be  gotten)  and  the  consent  of  their  brethren. 

"  5.  Robert  Williams  to  sell  the  books  he  has  already 
printed,  but  to  print  no  more  unless  under  the  above  re- 
strictions. 

"  6.  Every  preacher  who  acts  as  an  assistant  to  send  an 
account  of  the  work  once  in  six  months  to  the  General  As- 
sistant. 

"  Question  i.    How  are  the  preachers  stationed? 

"  New  York,  Thomas  Rankin,  to  change  in  four  months. 

"  Philadelphia,  George  Shadford,  to  change  in  four 
months. 

"  New  Jersey,  John  King,  William  Watters.i 

"  Baltimore,  Francis  Asbury,  Robert  Strawbridge/ 
Abraham  Whitworth,  Joseph  Yearbry. 

"  Norfolk,  Richard  Wright. 

"  Petersburg,  Robert  Williams.^ 

"  Ques.  2.   What  numbers  are  there  in  the  Society? 

"New  York 180 

"Philadelphia 180 

"  New  Jersey 200 

"  Maryland 500 

"  Virginia 100 

1 1 60 
"  Preachers 10  " 

At  that  time  the  Methodists  in  America  regarded  them- 
selves as  much  under  the  direction  of  Wesley  as  did  those 

1  Not  present. 


142  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  vi. 

in  Europe,  relying  upon  him  to  send  them  preachers,  and 
such  directions  as  he  might  deem  necessary.  The  preach- 
ers whom  he  sent  agreed  to  submit  to  his  authority,  to  ad- 
liere  to  his  doctrine,  and  to  establish  the  same  discipline  by 
which  the  Society  in  England  was  governed.  The  best 
defense  of  this  attitude,  unanswerable  from  every  point  of 
view,  is  in  Lee's  "  History  of  the  Methodists  "  (p.  47) : 

"  We  were  only  a  religious  society,  and  not  a  church ; 
and  any  member  of  any  church,  who  would  conform  to 
our  rules  and  meet  in  a  class,  had  liberty  to  continue  in 
their  own  church.  But  as  most  of  our  society  had  been 
brought  up  in  the  Church  of  England  (so  called),  and 
especially  those  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  it  was  recom- 
mended to  them  to  attend  on  the  service  of  that  church, 
and  to  partake  of  the  ordinances  at  the  hands  of  the  min- 
isters ;  for  at  that  time  the  church  people  were  established 
by  law  in  Maryland  and  Virginia,  and  the  ministers  were 
supported  by  a  tax  on  the  people.  In  many  places  for  a 
hundred  miles  together  there  was  no  one  to  baptize  a  child 
except  a  minister  of  the  Established  Church." 

The  rule  relating  to  Robert  Williams  may  be  considered 
"  the  initial  step  in  the  establishment  of  one  of  the  great 
institutions  of  Methodism."  '  Lee  states  that  Williams  had 
reprinted,  in  small  pamphlets,  many  of  Wesley's  books 
and  sermons,  and  had  circulated  them  to  the  great  ad- 
vantage of  the  movement,  distributing  them  in  advance,  so 
that  preachers  were  in\'ited  by  those  who  had  read  them 
to  preach  where  they  had  never  been  heard.  Lee  further 
states :  "  It  now  became  necessary  for  all  the  preachers  to 
be  united  in  the  same  cause  of  printing  and  selling  our 
books,  so  that  the  profits  arising  therefrom  might  be  di- 
vided among  them  or  applied  to  some  charitable  purpose." 
This  harmonized  with  the  method  on  the  other  side  of  the 

1  The  Methodist  Book  Concern. 


HUMAN  NATURE  NOT  EXTINGUISHED.  1 43 

Atlantic,  where  Wesley  had  the  exclusive  control  of  pub- 
lications in  the  interest  of  Methodism,  appropriating  the 
income  thereof  to  its  support  and  extension. 

Those  who  suppose  that  in  early  Methodism  human 
nature  was  extinguished  by  divine  grace,  to  be  undeceived 
need  only  to  read  "Asbury's  Journal,"  which  records  that 
in  this  conference  there  were  debates  "  relative  to  the  con- 
duct of  some  who  had  manifested  a  desire  to  abide  in  the 
cities  and  live  like  gentlemen,  and  that  when  three  years 
out  of  four  had  been  already  spent  in  the  city.  Money 
had  been  wasted,  improper  leaders  appointed,  many  of  our 
rules  broken." 

The  number  of  members  above  given  includes  only  those 
who  were  classified.  The  preachers  had  been  unable  to 
apply  Wesley's  method  on  account  of  the  resistance  of  the 
laymen,  and  some  preachers  sympathized  with  them.  Al- 
most all  that  had  been  accomplished  was  the  result  of  the 
strenuous  efforts  and  persuasion  of  Asbury.  Rankin  re- 
ported to  Wesley  that  nowhere  was  the  discipline  properly 
attended  to,  except  in  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  and 
even  there  it  was  declining. 

Rankin  remained  a  few  days  in  Philadelphia,  having 
the  assistance  of  Pilmoor,  and  then  proceeded  to  New 
York,  where  he  was  aided  at  different  times  by  Pilmoor 
and  Boardman.  Being  General  Assistant,  and  having  the 
care  of  all  the  societies  in  America,  while  nominally 
stationed  in  New  York,  he  was  frequently  away,  always, 
however,  securing  the  superintendence  of  the  work  in  his 
absence.  His  diary  shows  that  he  met  with  extraordi- 
nary success  and  constantly  communed  with  God.  George 
Shadford  was  equally  zealous  and  marvelously  effective  in 
preaching,  and  formed  a  most  tender  affection  for  Asbury, 
compared  by  a  writer  in  the  "Methodist  Magazine"  for 
1 8 16  to  the  love  of  David  and  Jonathan.     At  the  end  of 


144  ^'^^^'    METHODISTS.  [Chap.  \  i. 

his  first  year  in  America,  Shadford  had  added  about  two 
hundred  to  the  society. 

Asbury  continued  the  work  in  the  same  spirit  of  self- 
denial  and  incessant  labor  which  had  characterized  him 
from  the  time  he  arrived  in  the  country.  In  Baltimore 
he  became  intimate  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Otterbein  and 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Swoop,  pastor  of  the  Lutheran  Church ;  to 
these  he  expounded  the  plan  of  Methodism,  and  they  de- 
cided to  imitate  Methodist  methods  as  closely  as  possible. 

Wright  toiled  faithfully  in  Virginia,  and  Williams 
wrought  untiringly  in  that  colony  and  North  Carolina. 
Jarratt,  the  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England,  contin- 
ued to  fraternize  with  Methodists,  and  was  in  a  sense  an 
American  Fletcher,  acting  upon  Methodist  principles  and 
imbued  with  its  spirit,  without  relinquishing  his  parish. 
Among  the  converts  made  by  these  preachers  were  some 
who  attained  genuine  distinction  by  usefulness  and  gained 
renown  by  eloquence. 

When  Asbury,  returning  from*  the  conference  to  Balti- 
more, met  Strawbridge,  he  explained  to  him  the  new  and 
peculiar  rule  concerning  the  administration  of  the  sacra- 
ments, and  its  special  application  to  Maryland  and  Virginia. 
But  Strawbridge,  who  had  previously  contended  for  the 
right  of  the  people  to  the  sacraments,  and  had  administered 
them  before  Boardman  or  Pilmoor,  Asbury  or  Rankin, 
had  arrived  in  the  country,  would  not  comply  ;  and  Asbury 
always  stated  that  the  rule  was  adopted  with  the  under- 
standing that  "  no  brother  in  our  connection  shall  be  per- 
mitted to  administer  the  ordinances  at  this  time  except 
Mr.  Strawbridge,  and  he  under  the  particular  direction  of 
the  assistant."  He  hoped  that  Strawbridge,  at  the  first 
Quarterly  Conference,  would  recognize  the  effort  he  had 
made  to  conciliate  him,  and  submit  to  the  rule  as  specially 
modified  in  his  favor;  but  "  he  appeared  to  be  inflexible, 


THE   SECOXD    CONFERENCE.  '         145 

and  would  not  administer  the  ordinances  under  our  direc- 
tion at  all'  Many  things  were  said  on  the  subject,  and  a 
few  of  the  people  took  part  with  him." 

Dissatisfaction  was  plainly  and  even  warmly  expressed. 
Asbury,  obliged  to  exert  his  influence  against  the  uncom- 
promising spirit  and  rigid  methods  of  Rankin,  and  the 
independent  and  insubordinate  spirit  of  Strawbridge  and 
those  who  sympathized  with  him,  was  adversely  criticised 
by  both  extremes,  until  he  was  compelled  to  write,  "  My 
hand  appeared  still  to  be  against  every  man." 

Awakenings,  conversions,  numberless  individual  inquir- 
ies concerning  the  new  way  everywhere  spoken  against, 
resulting  in  widespread  revivals  and  the  opening  of 
"  efi"ectual  doors,"  rewarded  the  eff"orts  of  the  small  but 
devoted  band  that  flung  their  banners  to  the  breeze  and 
turned  not  back  during  the  rest  of  the  year  1773  and  the 
ensuing  spring. 

The  second  Annual  Conference  was  held  in  Philadel- 
phia, May  25,  1774.  At  the  first  but  one  question  was 
asked  concerning  the  ministers :  "  How  are  the  preachers 
stationed?"  and  one  concerning  the  members  in  the  Soci- 
ety. At  the  second  conference  six  were  asked:  *'i.  Who 
are  admitted  this  year?  2.  Who  are  admitted  on  trial? 
3.  Who  are  assistants  this  year?"  The  fourth  is  impor- 
tant: "Are  there  any  objections  to  any  of  the  preachers?  " 
The  record  is,  "They  were  examined  one  by  one."  Ac- 
cording to  these  minutes,  two  that  were  stationed  in  1773 
are  to  be  regarded  as  having  been  on  trial — Joseph  Yearbry 
and  Abraham  Whitworth.  Under  the  first  question  appear 
two  names  new  to  the  record,  Philip  Gatch  and  Philip 
Ebert,  and  the  seven  admitted  on  trial  are  also  new.  All 
not  classified  as  "  assistants  "  were  known  as  "  helpers." 
The  whole  number  of  preachers  stationed  was  1 7,  and  the 

1  "Asbury's  Journal,"  vol.  i.,  p.  83. 


146  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  vi. 

number  of  members,  2073.  Asbury  was  stationed  in 
New  York  and  Rankin  in  Philadelphia,  to  change  in  three 
months,  and  all  preachers  at  the  end  of  six  months.  The 
only  business  recorded  related  to  the  salaries  of  preachers, 
which  were  fixed  at  six  pounds  per  quarter  and  their 
traveling  expenses  (Pennsylvania  currency,  about  sixty- 
four  dollars  a  year) ;  but  each  preacher  "  received  into  full 
connection  "  was  to  have  the  use  and  property  of  his  horse, 
which  any  of  the  circuits  might  furnish.  A  general  Easter 
collection  was  ordered  for  sinking  debts  on  chapels  and 
relieving  the  preachers  in  want ;  and  it  was  provided  that 
"  wherever  Thomas  Rankin  spends  his  time  he  is  to  be 
assisted  by  those  circuits." 

Four  new  circuits  had  been  formed.  While  Robert 
Williams  is  mentioned  among  the  assistants,  the  minutes 
do  not  assign  him  a  station,  nor  does  the  name  of  Robert 
Strawbridge  appear. 

Of  this  conference  Asbury  records :  "  The  overbearing 
spirit  of  a  certain  person  [Rankin]  had  excited  my  fears. 
My  judgment  was  stubbornly  opposed  for  a  while,  but  at 
last  submitted  to ;  but  it  is  my  duty  to  bear  all  things  with 
a  meek  and  patient  spirit.  Our  conference  was  attended 
with  great  power,  and,  all  things  considered,  with  great 
harmony." 

Richard  Wright,  who  had  come  over  with  Asbury, 
though  efficient  at  intervals,  had  been  a  comparative  fail- 
ure in  this  country.  Possessed  of  some  gifts,  he  w^as 
spoiled  by  flattery,  and  then  became  unpopular  because  of 
the  pride  and  self-seeking  which  were  the  natural  results 
of  such  treatment.  Asbury  was  inclined  to  sympathize 
with  him,  and  noted  in  his  "Journal,"  "  the  unfaithfulness 
of  some  who  first  spoil  a  man  and  then  condemn  him." 

The  conference  agreed  to  send  Wright  back  to  Eng- 
land ;  but  before  he  went  Asbury  visited  him,  and  "  found 


BOARDMAN  AND  PILMOOR  RETURN  TO  ENGLAND.    147 

he  had  no  taste  for  spiritual  subjects."  Referring  to  this, 
he  writes,  "  Lord,  keep  me  from  all  superfluity  of  dress, 
and  from  preaching  empty  stuff  to  please  the  hearer 
instead  of  changing  the  heart!  Thus  has  he  fulfilled 
as  a  hireling  his  day."  After  his  return  to  England  he 
continued  in  the  service  of  Wesley  but  three  years,  his 
subsequent  career  being  unknown. 

The  names  of  Boardman  and  Pilmoor  had  not  appeared 
in  the  list  of  those  stationed  for  1773,  though  they  remained 
in  the  country  nearly  six  months,  preaching  where  they 
had  opportunity  and  assisting  at  the  principal  centers. 
They  were,  however,  Englishmen  of  the  English,  and  the 
dark  shadows  of  the  coming  events  of  the  Revolution 
excited  their  apprehensions.  On  January  2,  1774,  "after 
commending  the  Americans  to  God,"  they  sailed  for 
England. 

Boardman  immediately  resumed  work  in  Ireland,  and 
continued  therein  until  i  780,  when  he  was  appointed  to 
London  as  an  associate  of  Charles  Wesley,  Dr.  Thomas 
Coke,  and  others.  The  next  year  he'returned  to  Ireland 
and  traveled  upon  the  Limerick  circuit,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing was  appointed  to  Cork,  where  he  was  highly  es- 
teemed, and  the  people  were  anxious  for  his  coming.  His 
first  sermon  was  from  the  text,  "  Though  he  slay  me,  yet 
will  I  trust  in  him."  He  was  unable  to  preach  in  the 
evening ;  but,  though  there  were  symptoms  of  approach- 
ing apoplexy,  his  physician  neglected  the  case,  and  about 
nine  o'clock  the  same  day  he  died.  Wesley,  speaking  of 
his  sudden  death,  .says,  "  It  seems  he  might  have  been 
eminently  useful ;  but  good  is  the  will  of  the  Lord." 

Pilmoor  desisted  from  traveling  in  1774.  In  1776  he 
was  appointed  to  London,  and  afterward,  in  succession, 
to  the  Norwich  circuit,  Edinburgh,  Dublin,  Nottingham, 
Edinburgh  again,  and  York.     In    1785   his  name  disap- 


148  THE   METJ/ODISfS.  [Chai'.  vi. 

peared  from  the  English  minutes.  He  returned  to  Amer- 
ica later,  took  orders  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
and  was  settled  in  Philadelphia.  In  1802  there  was  a 
division  in  the  parish  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  one 
hundred  and  twenty-two  desiring  him  as  assistant  min- 
ister. Their  petition  being  disregarded,  they  seceded  and 
organized  a  church  on  Ann  Street,  over  which  he  was  set- 
tled. Subsequently  he  removed  to  Philadelphia,  and  was 
rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church.  He  possessed  superior  abili- 
ties, and  Methodistic  fervor  characterized  him  until  death. 
The  University  of  Pennsylvania  conferred  upon  him  the 
degree  of  Doctor  in  Divinity. 

William  Watters,  born  in  Baltimore  County,  Maryland, 
the  son  of  strict  members  of  the  English  church,  was  the 
first  native  Methodist  preacher.  He  often  heard  Straw- 
bridge,  King,  and  Williams ;  was  strongly  impressed,  lost 
interest  in  youthful  amusements  and  society,  passed  days 
in  great  distress  of  mind;  but  in  May,  1771,  in  the  house 
where  he  was  born,  his  sorrow  fled,  his  prayers  were  turned 
into  praise,  and  his  experience  was  epitomized  by  himself 
in  these  words :  "  I  could  now,  for  the  first  time,  call  Jesus 
Christ  Lord  by  the  Holy  Ghost  given  unto  me."  The 
reading  of  Wesley's  sermons,  in  one  of  the  pamphlets 
published  by  Williams,  deepened  his  conx'ictions.  He 
adopted  and  definitely  preached  the  doctrine  of  Christian 
perfection,  popularly  known  as  "  entire  sanctification," 
taught  by  Wesley,  and  professed  the  corresponding  expe- 
rience. Those  who  knew  him  best  were  most  impressed 
with  his  sincerity,  and  he  was  the  instrument  of  the  con- 
version of  two  of  his  brothers,  both  of  whom  became 
preachers.  Though  not  present  at  the  first  conference,  he 
was  among  those  stationed  by  it. 

Philip  Gatch,  the  second  native  Methodist  preacher  re- 
ported in   the   minutes,  was  a  strong  character,  prone   to 


INFLUENTIAL    ACCESSIONS.  1 49 

reflect  upon  religious  questions,  familiar  with  the  writings 
of  difi'erent  sects  and  of  the  Established  Church,  in  which 
he  was  born.  Perigeau,  a  preacher  raised  up  by  Robert 
Strawbridge,  preached  the  first  Methodist  sermon  he  ever 
heard,  and  "  left  a  want  in  the  heart  of  Gatch  that  for  six 
weeks  filled  him  with  misery  which  other  preachers  did 
not  alleviate."  But  on  the  26th  of  April,  1772,  he  was 
emancipated  from  the  spirit  of  condemnation.  His  father 
had  threatened  to  drive  him  from  home,  and  his  elder 
brother  sympathized  with  the  proscription,  but  was  con- 
verted, as  were  the  parents,  most  of  the  other  children, 
and  several  collateral  members  of  the  family.  Gatch  was 
an  influential  accession,  and  the  head  of  a  family  still  con- 
spicuous in  the  United  States.  Such  was  his  ability  that 
John  McLean,  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  who  knew  him  well,  thought  himself  well  employed 
in  writing  his  life. 

Both  Strawbridge  and  Williams  appear  to  have  located. 
Lindsay,  one  of  those  received  on  trial,  was  an  Irishman, 
who  remained  in  this  country  only  three  years.  Drom- 
goole  was  likewise  an  Irishman,  who  had  publicly  renounced 
popery  in  1770,  in  his  native  country. 

The  chief  characteristic  of  the  year  1774  was  the  mar- 
velous success  of  Asbury  in  gathering  into  the  societies 
influential  families,  from  whose  position  and  wealth  Meth- 
odism, in  the  vicinity  of  Baltimore,  gained  material  advan- 
tages, the  value  of  which  was  enhanced  by  their  spiritu- 
ality and  strict  adherence  to  Methodist  doctrine  and 
discipline.  .  The  most  conspicuous  of  these  was  Henry 
Dorsey  Gough,  who  was  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  fortune  of 
more  than  three  hundred  thousand  dollars.  His  wife  was  a 
daughter  of  Governor  Ridgeley,  and  his  country  residence, 
known  as  Perry  Hall,  about  twelve  miles  from  Baltimore, 
was  "  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  and  elegant  in  Amer- 


\$0  TJIE   METHODISTS.  [Chav.  \  i. 

ica."  His  wife  was  deeply  stirred  by  Methodist  preaciiiiig, 
but  he  denounced  it  as  superstition  and  forbade  her  to  hear 
it  again;  but  he  was  disquieted,  and  souglit  rehef  in  wine 
and  gay  and  irrehgious  companions.  It  was  proposed 
that  for  sport  they  should  hear  Asbury.  But  he  possessed 
a  power  to  solemnize  an  assembly  surpassed  only  by  Wes- 
ley, and  as  they  were  departing,  one  of  his  friends  said  to 
Gough,  "What  nonsense!"  "  No,"  repHed  he,  "it  is  the 
truth  ;  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus."  Entering  his  house,  he 
said  to  his  wife,  "  I  will  never  again  hinder  you  from  hear- 
ing the  Methodists."  His  seriousness  increased  until  he 
was  upon  the  verge  of  suicide.  Visiting  one  of  his  plan- 
tations, he  heard  the  \oice  of  pra}er  and  praise  in  a  cabin, 
and  found  that  a  slave  from  a  neighboring  plantation  was 
engaged  in  prayer  with  his  own  negroes,  "  and  offering 
fervent  thanksgivings  for  the  blessings  of  their  depressed 
lot."  He  was  moved  to  the  depths,  and  cried  out:  "  Alas, 
O  Lord,  I  have  my  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands,  and 
yet,  ungrateful  wretch  that  I  am,  I  never  thanked  thee  as 
this  poor  slave  does,  who  has  scarcely  clothes  to  put  on 
or  food  to  satisfy  his  hunger."  A  few  days  later  he  left 
the  dinner-table  and  went  to  his  room,  determined  to 
find  peace  if  possible.  Receiving  the  assurance  of  for- 
giveness, he  returned  to  his  family  and  guests,  exclaiming, 
"  I  have  found  the  Methodists'  blessing!  I  have  found 
the  Methodists'  God!". 

As  his  establishment  comprised  one  hundred  persons, 
he  erected  a  chapel  near  his  residence.  It  w^as  the  first 
American  Methodist  church  possessing  a  bell,  and  every 
morning  and  evening  his  household  and  slaves  were  sum- 
moned to  family  worship.  Twice  a  month  the  circuit 
preachers  visited  it,  and  local  preachers  every  Sunday. 

During  this  year  Abraham  Whitworth,  the  first  conspic- 
uous apostate  among  American   Methodists,  fell  into  in- 


EXPLOITS   OF  PHILIP   GATCH.  151 

temperance  and  other  vices.  He  had  been  sent  to  Kent 
circuit,  and  after  his  lapse  -Gatch  was  directed  to  take  his 
place.  His  triumphs  there  were  extraordinary ;  though 
persecuted,  often  with  violence,  every  event  seemed  to 
contribute  to  his  success.  Men  who  became  preachers  of 
unusual  ability  were  converted  under  his  appeals.  Kain, 
a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  one  of  his 
chief  opponents,  was  in  the  habit  of  encountering  Metho- 
dist preachers,  demanding  their  authority,  and  arrogantly 
catechising  them  concerning  their  qualifications.  When 
he  accosted  Gatch,  the  latter  informed  him  that  he  was 
about  to  preach  and  he  could  judge  for  himself.  Gatch 
knew  much  of  the  Prayer-book  by  heart  and  quoted  it 
frequently  to  confirm  his  position ;  Kain  was  embar- 
rassed, but  at  the  close,  under  great  excitement,  endeav- 
ored to  read  the  interview  with  Nicodemus  to  prove  that 
baptism  by  water  was  necessary  and  not  the  new  birth. 
He  condemned  extempore  prayer,  and  denounced  Gatch 
for  not  using  a  written  form.  The  latter  rose  and  gave  his 
experience,  declaring  that,  though  he  had  been  baptized 
in  infancy,  until  the  time  of  his  conversion  he  had  never  felt 
the  regenerating  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  adduced 
various  Scripture  instances  of  extempore  prayer,  and  re- 
marked that  "  when  Peter  was  sinking  he  did  not  go  ashore 
to  get  a  prayer-book,  but  cried  out,  '  Save,  Lord,  or  I 
perish! '  " 

Portentous  complications  long  existing  were  about  to 
culminate.  Thus  far  the  colonies  had  had  no  direct  po- 
litical connection  with  one  another.  New  Hampshire, 
New  Jersey,  Virginia,  the  two  Carolinas,  and  Georgia 
were  under  provincial  governments,  based  on  commissions 
issued  to  governors  appointed  by  the  crown,  and  limited 
by  the  accompanying  instructions.  Maryland,  Pennsyl- 
vania,   and    Delaware   were    under  proprietors,   to   whom 


152  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  vi. 

had  been  granted  the  subordinate  powers  of  legislation 
and  government,  and  by  whom  the  governor  was  ap- 
pointed. Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut 
were  chartered  governments,  the  charters  being  similar,  in 
many  respects,  to  the  commissions  issued  to  the  provincial 
governors. 

Because  of  a  universal  sympathy,  community  of  interest 
arose  between  the  colonies  when  Parliament  struck  a  blow 
at  the  chartered  governments ;  for,  notwithstanding  exist- 
ing dissimilarities,  the  attempt  to  alter  the  charter  of  Mas- 
sachusetts alarmed  the  other  colonies,  since,  if  Parliament 
had  that  right,  none  possessed  any  constitutional  guaran- 
tees which  could  not  be  altered  or  taken  away  by  its 
caprice.  An  act  passed  in  1774,  for  the  better  regulat- 
ing of  the  government  of  the  province  of  Massachusetts 
Bay,  radically  changed  the  executive  power,  and  recon- 
structed the  judiciary  in  order  to  subdue  the  people  more 
completely  to  the  crown.  As  early  as  1754,  twenty-five 
commissioners  had  assembled  from  seven  States,  and  a  plan 
of  union  was  adopted,  principally  the  work  of  Benjamin 
Franklin.  All  agreed  that  an  act  of  Parliament  was  neces- 
sary to  authorize  it;  but  it  was  rejected  by  every  colonial 
assembly  before  which  it  was  brought,  for  they  consid- 
ered that  it  implied  too  much  of  prerogative ;  and  it  was 
rejected  in  England  on  the  ground  that  it  was  too  demo- 
cratic.^ 

The  Stamp  Act,  passed  a  year  before  Philip  Embury 
began  to  preach,  led  several  of  the  colonies  to  deny  the 
right  of  taxation  by  Parliament,  and  when,  in  1766,  it  was 
repealed,  the  news  caused  general  satisfaction,  which  was 
manifested  by  fireworks,  festivals,  and  the  ringing  of  bells. 
But  in  the  act  of  repeal  the  government  reasserted  its  right 

1  Curtis's  "  Origin  and  History  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States," 
vol.  i.,  pp.  8-10  (Harper  Brothers). 


PORTENTS   OF   CIVIL    WAR.  1 53 

to  tax  the  colonies,  and  in  1767  imposed  a  duty  on  paper, 
glass,  painters'  colors,  and  teas  imported  into  the  colonies. 
The  chief  merchants  of  Boston,  Salem,  Connecticut,  and 
New  York  agreed,  in  1 768,  not  to  purchase  or  import,  dur- 
ing the  whole  of  the  next  year,  any  kind  of  goods  or  mer- 
chandise from  Great  Britain  except  a  few  specified  articles. 
Boston  was  practically  transformed  into  a  garrisoned  town 
because  of  the  large  number  of  British  soldiers  stationed 
there  to  protect  the  revenue  officers  in  the  collection  of 
duties. 

The  advance  mutterings  of  a  distant  but  swiftly  ap- 
proaching storm  were  in  the  air  during  the  whole  of  1773- 
For  two  years,  when  the  colonial  assemblies  met  they  began 
business  by  denouncing  the  acts  of  the  British  ministry  ; 
promptly  the  governors  would  prorogue  them,  leaving  the 
people  destitute  of  respect  for  the  government  and  hostile 
to  the  governor  personally.  But  now,  before  the  governors 
could  find  an  excuse  for  putting  an  end  to  the  session,  the 
assemblies  constituted  "  committees  of  correspondence,"  to 
arrange  for  and  maintain  concert  of  action  among  the  colo- 
nies. Opposition  to  taxation  had  been  so  effective  that  in 
1772,  while  the  collection  of  revenue  on  tea  produced 
about  eighty  pounds  net,  it  cost  more  than  two  hundred 
thousand  to  collect  it.  Then  came  the  scheme  by  which, 
although  the  East  India  Company  was  given  a  drawback 
of  the  entire  amount  of  the  duty,  the  people,  while  yield- 
ing the  principle  and  paying  the  tax,  were  to  get  tea  at  a 
lower  price  than  any  other  people,  and  at  less  cost  than 
before  the  duty  was  imposed.  But  the  colonies  would  not 
be  bribed.  Popular  indignation  meetings  were  held  in 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  the  captains  were  ordered  to 
take  the  tea  back,  and  many  of  them  obeyed.  In  Charles- 
ton, S.  C,  it  was  stored  in  cellars,  where  it  spoiled  ;  in  Bos- 
ton, after  long  discussion,  it  was,  on  December  i6th,  thrown 


154  ^'•^^^"   J^IETHODISrS.  [Chap.  \'i. 

into  the  sea.  Thus  the  whole  continent,  excluding  Canada 
and  the  French  and  Spanish  possessions,  was  in  a  state  of 
excitement. 

The  arrogance  and  oppressions  of  the  mother  country 
constantly  increased  until,  less  than  four  weeks  after  the 
adjournment  of  the  first  American  Methodist  conference, 
Benjamin  Franklin,  then  in  England  as  the  political  agent 
of  Pennsylvania,  Massachusetts,  and  Georgia,  wrote  an 
official  letter  to  the  Massachusetts  Assembly,  dated  July 
7,  1773,  recommending  the  assembling  of  a  general  con- 
gress of  the  colonies.  That  body,  styling  itself  "  delegates 
appointed  by  the  good  people  of  these  colonies,"  con- 
vened in  Philadelphia,  September  5,  1774.  The  Congress 
did  not  propose  revolution,  but  regarded  itself  as  the 
guardian  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  colonies,  and 
adopted  a  declaration  of  rights,  in  which  were  summed  up 
the  hardships  sufTered  since  the  year  1763,  and  the  claim 
was  made  of  a  free  and  exclusive  power  of  legislation  inde- 
pendent of  parliamentary  jurisdiction  in  all  cases  of  taxa- 
tion and  internal  polity,  subject  only  to  the  negative  of  the 
crown.  The  declaration  also  maintained  that  the  colonies 
were  entitled  to  all  the  rights,  liberties,  and  immunities  of 
free  and  natural-born  subjects  within  the  realm  of  England, 
the  rights  to  trial  by  jury  of  the  vicinage,  and  to  assemble 
peaceably  to  consider  causes  of  complaint  and  to  petition 
the  king.  They  resolved  that,  after  September  10,  1775, 
they  would  refuse  to  export  to  Great  Britain,  Ireland,  and 
the  West  Indies  any  merchandise  or  commodity  unless  their 
grievances  were  redressed;  and  after  December  i,  1774, 
they  would  import  nothing  into  British  America  from  the 
United  Kingdom,  or  from  any  other  place  where  the  goods, 
wares,  or  merchandise  had  previously  been  exported  from 
Great  Britain  or  Ireland,  and  that  no  such  goods,  wares, 
or  merchandise  should  be  used. 


COIXCIDEXCE  OF  CONFERENCE  AND   CONGRESS.     155 

Meanwhile  the  English  government  steadily  pursued 
the  policy  of  coercion.  The  petition  from  Congress  to  the 
king  was  referred  to  the  House  of  Commons,  and  by  a 
large  majority  that  body  refused  to  hear  it.  The  trade  of 
England  was  restricted,  the  colonists  were  forbidden  to 
fish  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland,  and  similar  embargoes 
were  laid  on  the  Middle  and  Southern  colonies. 

The  various  wars  with  the  Indians  and  French  in  which 
the  colonies  had  been  engaged  had  trained  them  for  battle, 
and  at  this  time  defenses  against  apprehended  hostilities 
were  everywhere  being  prepared. 

The  battle  of  Lexington  took  place  on  the  19th  of  April, 
1775  ;  it  was  the  signal  of  war,  and  throughout  the  country 
magazines  and  arsenals  were  seized  by  the  people.  An 
army  of  twenty  thousand  men,  volunteers,  soon  appeared 
in  the  vicinity  of  Boston,  and  Ethan  Allen  and  Benedict 
Arnold  a  little  later  captured  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point. 

The  third  Methodist  conference,  like  its  predecessors, 
was  held  in  Philadelphia  on  the  i  7th  of  May.  At  the  same 
time  in  the  same  city  the  second  Continental  Congress 
was  convened,  having  organized  on  the  loth  of  May  ;  it 
continued  in  session  until  August  ist,  when  it  adjourned 
until  the  5th  of  September. 

An  increase  that  would  have  been  surprising  in  any 
case,  but  in  the  distracted  condition  of  the  public  mind 
was  astonishing,  and  seemed  to  the  conference  a  demon- 
stration that  God  was  with  them,  was  noted  in  the  Society, 
which  now  had  3148  members,  of  whom  200  were  in  New 
York,  190  in  Philadelphia,  300  in  New  Jersey,  and  the 
large  remainder,  nearly  2500,  south  of  Philadelphia. 
Methodism  was  progressing  much  more  rapidly  in  Balti- 
more than  elsewhere,  there  being  840  members  in  the  city 
and  suburbs,  and  800  in  Brunswick  County,  Virginia. 
Nineteen  ministers  were  stationed,  among  them  Robert 


156  THE  METHODISTS.  [CiiAr.  vi. 

Straw-bridge.  Contrary  to  his  own  judgment,  Francis  As- 
bur)-  was  appointed  to  Norfolk,  Va.  Thomas  Rankin,  the 
General  Assistant,  was  instructed  to  "  travel  through  the 
connection  till  the  month  of  September,  and  then  take  a 
quarter  in  New  York."  All  the  preachers  in  New  Jersey 
were  required  to  change  in  three  months  ;  certain  others  at 
the  end  of  six  months,  and  those  in  Brunswick  and  Han- 
over, Va.,  "  as  the  assistant  thinks  proper." 

The  conference  ordered  throughout  the  connection  a 
general  fast,  for  the  prosperity  of  the  work  and  for  the 
peace  of  America,  to  be  observed  on  Tuesdav,  the  i8th  of 

July. 

While  the  second  Continental  Congress  was  sitting, 
Howe,  Burgoyne,  and  Clinton,  with  a  large  force  of  Brit- 
ish troops,  arrived  on  the  continent,  and  on  the  1 7th  of 
June  was  fought  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  Immediately 
after  this  event  an  application  was  made  to  Congress  by 
the  Provincial  Assembly  of  Massachusetts,  desiring,  direc- 
tion and  aid.  They  informed  the  Congress  that  they  had 
raised  a  force  of  13,600  men,  and  had  made  proposals  to 
other  New  England  colonies  to  furnish  men  in  the  same 
proportions;  and  ventured  to  suggest  that,  as  they  had 
been  compelled  to  do  this,  an  American  army  should 
forthwith  be  raised  for  the  common  cause.  The  city  and 
county  of  New  York  also  asked  the  advice  of  Congress 
concerning  the  course  to  take  with  regard  to  British  troops 
expected  in  that  quarter.  Whereupon  the  Congress  at 
once  resolved  itself  into  a  committee  of  the  whole  to  con- 
sider the  state  of  America. 

It  took  measures  to  adopt  the  regiments  that  had  been 
raised  by  the  New  England  provinces  as  the  nucleus  of 
a  general  army,  and  added  thereto  other  forces  raised  for 
defense,  and  thus  formed  the  body  known  to  history  as  the 
American  Continental  Army.     On  the  1 5th  of  June  George 


NEir  FORM   OF   OPPOSiriON.  157 

Washington  was  unanimously  chosen  commander-in-chief 
of  these  forces. 

The  centers  of  the  Methodist  movement  were  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  seaports  on  Chesapeake  Bay,  and 
Norfolk,  together  with  the  interior  of  Virginia,  New  Jersey, 
and  portions  of  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware  not  remote  from 
the  sea-coast.  In  this  situation,  the  intense  dislike  to  Eng- 
land and  actual  war,  the  foreign  relations  of  Methodism,  and 
the  fact  that  the  most  influential  traveling  preachers  were 
Englishmen  and  that  the  connection  acknowledged  the 
authority  of  John  Wesley,  exposed  them  and  the  societies 
to  a  prejudice  speedily  transformed  into  hostility  whenever 
they  faithfully  preached  against  the  immorality  which  ever 
accompanies  war,  and  when,  as  most  believed  it  to  be  their 
duty  to  do,  they  condemned  the  prevalence  of  the  war- 
spirit. 

No  Methodist  preacher,  especially  no  European,  arose  in 
America  during  the  whole  of  the  year  i  775  without  imme- 
diately dividing  the  congregation,  large  or  small,  into  the 
sympathetic  and  the  suspicious ;  and  the  opposition  which 
Methodist  preaching  on  purely  moral  or  doctrinal  grounds 
had  everywhere  excited  was  liable  at  any  moment  to  be 
transformed  into  partisan  fury  or  patriotic  indignation, 
according  to  the  temperament  of  those  who  perceived,  or 
thought  they  perceived,  any  expressed  or  implied  question 
of  the  rightfulness  of  the  attitude  of  the  colonies. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

IN   THE   THROES    OF    REVOLUTION. 

At  the  most  critical  juncture  in  the  poHtical  and  reli- 
gious situation  of  the  New  World,  a  still  more  serious  com- 
plication was  caused  by  the  hostility  of  John  Wesley  to 
the  measures  taken  by  the  colonists  in  their  struggle 
against  the  exactions  and  impositions  of  the  British  gov- 
ernment. This  was  the  more  offensive  to  the  people  of 
America  because,  while  the  struggle  was  confined  wholly 
to  the  realm  of  discussion  and  diplomacy,  he  had  appeared 
to  sympathize  with  them  rather  than  with  the  ministers  of 
the  crown  and  the  acts  of  Parliament. 

In  the  year  1768  he  wrote  "Free  Thoughts  on  the 
Present  State  of  Public  AfTairs,"  in  which  he  discussed 
local  and  current  questions.  Speaking  of  the  colonies,  he 
said  :  "  I  do  not  defend  the  measures  which  have  been  taken 
with  regard  to  America ;  I  doubt  whether  any  man  can 
defend  them  either  on  the  foot  of  law,  equity,  or  prudence." 

To  the  astonishment  of  all,  the  opposition  of  a  large 
number,  and  the  gratification  of  every  Tory  on  both  sides 
of  the  Atlantic,  there  was  issued  in  i  775  "A  Calm  Address 
to  our  American  Colonies,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  John  W^esley, 
M.A."  The  doctrine  of  this  "Address"  was  that  the 
Americans  were  the  descendants  of  men  who  either  had' 
no  votes  or  had  resigned  them  by  emigration  ;  they  there- 
fore possessed  exactly  what  their  ancestors  left  them — not 
a  vote  in  making  laws  and  choosing  legislators,  but  the 
happiness   of  being  protected   by   laws   and    the    duty   ol 

158 


WESLEY  AXD    THE   AMERICAN   CACSE.  159 

obeying  them.  Wesley  undertook  to  show  that  the 
late  acts  of  Parliament  were  the  occasion,  but  not  a  just 
cause  of  the  outbreak,  and  said :  "  Forty  years  ago,  when 
my  brother  was  in  Boston,  it  was  the  general  language 
there,  '  We  must  shake  off  the  yoke ;  we  shall  never  be  a 
free  people  till  we  shake  off  the  English  yoke.'  " 

Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  had  issued,  just  before  this  publica- 
tion, a  pamphlet  entitled  "  Taxation  no  Tyranny,"  an 
answer  to  the  resolutions  and  address  of  the  American 
colonies.  Wesley's  "  Calm  Address  "  was  little  more  than 
an  abridgment  of  this  essay  ;  and,  as  he  made  no  refer- 
ence to  Dr.  Johnson,  he  was  "  at  once  pounced  upon  as 
a  plagiarist  and  a  renegade  of  the  worst  description." 
"Wesley  was  now  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  men  in 
England,  and  perhaps  no  ecclesiastical  personage  of  the 
realm  swayed  a  wider  influence  over  the  masses  on  ques- 
tions involving  religious  interests.  Hence  the  publication 
of  his  '  Calm  Address  '  produced  an  unparalleled  sensa- 
tion." ^ 

The  controversy  waxed  bitter,  and  the  titles  of  the 
pamphlets,  the  details,,  and  the  replies,  though  intended  to 
be  sarcastic  and  cutting,  seem  trivial,  when  they  are  not 
mere  vulgar  abuse,  at  the  present  day.  One  was  "A  Cool 
Reply  to  '  A  Calm  Address '  "  ;  another,  "  A  Wolf  in  Sheep's 
Clothing ;  or.  An  Old  Jesuit  Unmasked  "  ;  and  the  youthful 
Toplady,  Wesley's  most  virulent  foe,  author  of  "  Rock  of 
Ages,"  seized  his  opportunity  and  wrote  a  tract  entitled 
"  An  Old  Fox  Tarred  and  Feathered."  In  this  he  charged 
that  Wesley's  "Calm  Address,"  as  to  both  matter  and 
expression,  was  "  a  bundle  of  Lilliputian  shafts  picked  and 
stolen  out  of  Dr.  Johnson's  pincushion."^ 

1  Tyerman's  "  The  Life  and  Times  of  John  Wesley,"  vol.  iii.,  pp.  186,  187. 
'^  For  full  discussion  of  the  subject  and  references  to  other  pamphlets,  see 
Tyerman's  "  The  Life  and  Times  of  John  Wesley,"  vol.  iii. 


l6o  J'JJIi   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  vii. 

Meanwhile  Dr.  Johnson  wrote  to  Wesley,  thanking  him 
for  the  addition  of  "  your  important  suffrage  to  my  argu- 
ment on  the  American  question.  To  have  gained  such  a 
man  as  yourself  may  justly  confirm  me  in  my  own  opinion. 
What  effect  my  paper  has  upon  the  public  I  know  not ; 
but  I  have  no  reason  to  be  discouraged.  The  lecturer  was 
surely  in  the  right  who,  though  he  saw  his  audience  slink- 
ing away,  refused  to  quit  the  chair  while  Plato  stayed."  ^ 

The  first  in  the  field  and  the  ablest  of  Wesley's  critics 
was  Caleb  Evans,  a  Baptist  minister,  and,  by  the  testimony 
of  one  who  had  no  sympathy  with  the  American  cause, 
"  a  man  of  good  sense,  a  diligent  student,  a  faithful  pastor, 
and  extensively  useful,  but  a  rampant  advocate  of  what 
was  called  liberty."  In  a  pamphlet  he  charged  Wesley 
with  having  suddenly  changed  his  opinions ;  with  having 
at  the  late  election  advised  the  Bristol  Methodists  to  vote 
for  the  American  candidate ;  and  further,  with  having  but 
a  short  time  before  recommended  a  book  entitled  "  An 
Argument  in  Defense  of  the  Exclusive  Right  Claimed  by 
the  Colonies  to  Tax  Themselves." 

Wesley  denied  that  he  had  seen  the  book ;  but  Evans 
proved  that  William  Pine,  Wesley's  own  printer,  and  the 
Rev.  James  Roquet,  his  friend,  were  both  prepared  to  at- 
test on  oath  that  Wesley  had  recommended  that  book  to 
them.  Evans  was  by  this  testimony  convinced  that  Wes- 
ley had  deliberately  falsified,  and  in  a  new  edition  of  his 
tract  directed  attention  to  "  the  shameful  versatility  and 
disingenuity  of  this  artful  man." 

Thomas  Olivers,  one  of  Wesley's  converts,  came  forward 
early  in  1776  with  "A  Defense  of  the  Rev.  John  Wesley  " 
on  the  ground  of  pressure  of  business  and  advancing  years, 
on  account  of  which  he  had  forgotten  that  he  had  recom- 
mended the  book  or  even  seen  it.      Olivers  said  that  he 

1  Boswell's  "  Life  of  Johnson." 


WESLEY'S  FORGETFULNESS.  l6l 

preached  and  exhorted  twenty  or  thirty  times  a  week  and 
often  more,  answered  thirty  or  forty  letters,  prepared 
something  in  whole  or  in  part  for  the  press,  and  a  large 
variety  of  tracts  on  different  subjects  passed  through  his 
hands ;  it  was  not,  therefore,  strange  that  his  memory 
should  often  fail.  But  Wesley's  native  frankness  was  his 
best  vindicator;  for  on  the  I2th  of  November,  1775,  he  had 
written  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Roquet  this  letter: 

"  Dear  James  :  I  will  now  simply  tell  you  the  thing  as 
it  is.  As  I  was  returning  from  the  Leeds  Conference,  one 
gave  me  the  tract  which  you  refer  to,  part  of  which  I  read 
on  my  journey.  The  spirit  of  it  I  observed  to  be  admi- 
rably good,  and  I  tJien  thought  the  arguments  conclusive. 
In  consequence  of  which,  I  suppose  (though  I  do  not  re- 
member it),  I  recommended  it  both  to  you  and  others ; 
but  I  had  so  entirely  forgotten  it  that  even  when  it  was 
brought  to  me  the  other  day  I  could  not  recollect  that  I 
had  seen  it. 

"  I  am,  etc., 

"John  Wesley." 

Several  Methodist  writers  honestly  and  benevolently 
attempt  to  relieve  the  memory  of  John  Wesley  from  the 
charge  of  hostility  to  the  cause  of  the  colonists  during  the 
Revolutionary  struggle.  But  we  are  reluctantly  compelled 
to  demonstrate  that  the  method  which  they  adopt  is  without 
historical  support,  and  capable  of  absolute  disproof. 
This  is  the  case  as  presented  by  Stevens : 
"  Wesley's  error  in  this  publication  [the  "  Calm  Ad- 
dress"]  afforded  him  a  signal  advantage  at  last — the 
opportunity  in  the  same  year  of  frankly  correcting  him- 
self, and  of  acknowledging  the  right  of  the  colonies  in  their 
stern  quarrel.    .    .   . 


1 62  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai-.  vii. 

"  The  day  of  Lexington  and  Concord  struck  Europe 
with  surprise,  and  gave  a  new  and  stern  argument  on  the 
question  to  thoughtful  EngHshnien.  Wesley  saw  its  sig- 
nificance at  once.  Waiting  but  one  day  after  the  arrival 
of  the  news,  he  wrote  to  Lord  North  and  the  Earl  of  Dart- 
mouth, severally,  an  emphatic  letter. 

"'I  am,'  he  said,  'a  High-churchman,  the  son  of  a 
High-churchman,  bred  up  from  my  childhood  in  the  high- 
est notions  of  passive  obedience  and  non-resistance ;  and 
yet,  in  spite  of  my  long-rooted  prejudices,  I  cannot  avoid 
thinking  these,  an  oppressed  people,  asked  for  nothing 
more  than  their  legal  rights,  and  that  in  the  most  modest 
and  inoffensive  manner  that  the  nature  of  the  thing  would 
allow.  But  waiving  this,  I  ask.  Is  it  common  sense  to  use 
force  toward  the  Americans  ?  Whatever  has  been  affirmed, 
these  men  will  not  be  frightened,  and  they  will  not  be 
conquered  easily.  Some  of  our  valiant  officers  say  that 
"two  thousand  men  will  clear  America  of  these  rebels." 
No,  nor  twenty  thousand,  be  they  rebels  or  not,  nor  per- 
haps treble  that  number.  They  are  strong;  they  are  val- 
iant ;  they  are  one  and  all  enthusiasts,  enthusiasts  for  lib- 
erty, calm,  deliberate  enthusiasts.  In  a  short  time  they 
will  understand  discipline  as  well  as  their  assailants.  But 
you  are  informed  "  they  are  divided  among  themselves." 
So  was  poor  Rehoboam  informed  concerning  the  ten  tribes ; 
so  was  Philip  informed  concerning  the  people  of  the 
Netherlands.  No;  they  are  terribly  united;  they  think 
they  are  contending  for  their  wives,  children,  and  liberty. 
Their  supplies  are  at  hand,  ours  are  three  thousand  miles 
off.  Are  we  able  to  conquer  the  Americans  suppose  they 
are  left  to  themselves?  We  are  not  sure  of  this,  nor  are 
we  sure  that  all  our  neighbors  will  stand  stock-still.*  "  ^ 

1  Stevens's  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"-vol.  i.,  pp.  283, 
284. 


THE    VITAL   ERROR.  1 63 

The  assumption  upon  which  this  theory  rests  is  that 
Wesley  had  written  the  "  Calm  Address  "  before  the  bat- 
tle of  Lexington,  and  that  the  intelligence  of  it  caused 
him  to  change  his  opinions  and  write  these  letters  to  Lord 
North  and  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth;  whereas  he  wrote  the 
letter  to  Lord  North  while  he  still  sympathized  with  the 
colonies,  and  was  afterivard  convinced  by  Dr.  Johnson's 
pamphlet  that  their  cause  was  not  well  founded.^  Yet  the 
exhibition  of  this  letter  to  George  Bancroft,  who  had  prop- 
erly represented  Mr.  Wesley's  state  of  mind  upon  this  sub- 
ject, led  that  historian  to  modify  his  views,  which  Stevens 
thus  recognizes : 

"  I  am  happy  to  acknowledge,  in  behalf  of  the  Metho- 
dist community,  their  obligations  to  Mr.  Bancroft,  who, 
when  this  important  document  was  brought  under  his 
notice,  had  the  candor  to  qualify  by  it  his  former  allusions 
to  Wesley,  though  in  order  to  do  so  it  was  necessary  to- 
cancel  one  or  more  of  his  stereotype  plates.  He  inserts  a 
large  extract  from  the  letter  in  the  sixth  edition  of  his 
seventh  volume.  The  Methodist  denomination  will  con- 
gratulate itself  that  its  venerated  founder  is  thus,  almost 
for  the  first  time  in  civil  history,  fairly  represented  in 
respect  to  this  question,  and  that  this  justice  has  been 
accorded  in  a  work  which,  by  its  remarkable  merits,  will 
be  as  immortal  as  its  theme." - 

The  solemn  predictions  of  that  portion  of  Wesley's  letter 
to  Lord  North  quoted  by  Stevens  were  fulfilled,  and  there 
is  much  in  the  remainder  which  exhibits  extraordinary 
foresight. 

Until  a  short  time  after  the  Leeds  Conference,  August 
I,  I775>  he  was  of  the  same  way  of  thinking;  but  in  a  few 

1  Wesley's  famous  letter  to  Lord  North  was  written  at  Armagh,  June  15, 

1775- 

2  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  vol.  i.,  p.  284. 


l64  '^l'^^  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  vii. 

weeks  Dr.  Johnson  published  "  Taxation  no  Tyranny," 
which  caused  him  to  reverse  the  direction  of  his  impulsive 
current,  and  he  at  once  threw  out  this  firebrand. 

To  determine  beyond  future  question  the  cause,  the 
date,  and  the  consequences  of  his  change,  the  following 
indisputable  testimony  is  adduced. 

Wesley  published  in  the  autumn  of  1775  a  second  edi- 
tion of  the  "  Calm  Address."  Concerning  this  he  writes 
to  his  brother  Charles  : 

"  October  19,  1775. 

"  It  takes  time  to  set  people's  heads  right ;  but  we  must 
despair  of  nothing.  I  have  cast  my  bread  upon  the  waters, 
and  should  have  been  content  though  there  had  been  no 
present  fruit.  Some  hours  this  morning  I  devote  to 
'  Americanus.'  What  is  material  I  shall  endeavor  to 
answer.  It  is  well  if  I  can  give  as  good  account  of  every- 
thing else  as  of  my  change  of  judgment.  I  find  a  danger 
now  of  a  new  kind — a  danger  of  losing  my  love  for  the 
Americans;  I  mean,  for  their  miserable  leaders.   .   .   ."^ 

And  again : 

"  London,  October  28,  1775. 

"  I  am  just  putting  into  the  press  a  new  edition  of  the 
'  Address,'  corrected,  in  zvhich  my  c/ta7igc  is  accounted  for 
and  two  of  the  questions  fully  answered." - 

The  new  edition  contained  "  A  Preliminary  Address  to 
the  Reader,"  in  which  Wesley  says: 

"  I  was  of  a  different  judgment  on  this  head  till  I  read 
a  tract  entitled  'Taxation  no  Tyranny.'  But  as  soon  as 
I  received  more  light  myself  I  judged  it  to  be  my  duty  to 
impart  it  to  others.  I  therefore  extracted  the  chief  argu- 
ments from  that  treatise,  and  added  an  application  to  those 

1  Wesley's  "  Works,"  vol.  vi.,  p.  676.  '  Ibid.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  677. 


IVESLEY'S   OWN    TES-JIMONY.  165 

whom  it  most  concerns.  I  was  well  aware  of  the  treat- 
ment this  would  bring  upon  myself;  but  let  it  be,  so  I  may 
in  any  degree  serve  my  king  and  country."  This  settles 
the  case  that,  instead  of  changing  from  the  support  of  the 
government  to  advocacy  of  the  colonies,  he  changed  from 
sympathy  with  the  colonies  to  advocacy  of  the  government. 
Late  in  the  same  year  Wesley  addressed  this  letter  to 
"  Lloyd's  Evening  Post  "  : 

"  Sir  :  I  have  been  seriously  asked.  From  what  motive 
did  you  publish  your  '  Calm  Address  to  the  American 
Colonies  '  ? 

"  I  seriously  answer,  Not  to  get  money.  Had  that  been 
my  motive,  I  should  have  swelled  it  into  a  shilling  pam- 
phlet and  have  entered  it  at  Stationers'  Hall. 

"  Not  to  get  preferment  for  myself  or  my  brother's  chil- 
dren. I  am  a  little  too  old  to  gape  after  it  myself;  and  if 
my  brother  or  I  sought  it  for  them,  we  have  only  to  show 
them  to  the  world. 

"  Not  to  please  any  man  living,  high  or  low.  I  know 
mankind  too  well.  I  know  they  that  love  you  for  political 
service  love  you  less  than  their  dinner ;  and  they  that  hate 
you  hate  you  worse  than  the  devil. 

"  Least  of  all  did  I  write  with  a  view  to  inflame  any ; 
just  the  contrary.  I  contributed  my  mite  toward  putting 
out  the  flame  which  rages  all  over  the  land.  This  I  have 
more  opportunity  of  observing  than  any  other  man  in 
England.  I  see  with  pain  to  what  a  height  this  already 
rises  in  every  part  of  the  nation.  And  I  see  many  pour- 
ing oil  into  the  flame  by  crying  out,  '  How  unjustly,  how 
cruelly,  the  king  is  using  the  poor  Americans,  who  are  only 
contending  for  their  liberty  and  for  their  legal  privileges!' 

"  Now  there  is  no  possible  way  to  put  out  this  flame,  or 
hinder  its  rising  higher  and  higher,  but  to  show  that  the 


l66  'J'Jii^  METHODISTS.  [CiiAf.  vii. 

Americans  are  not  used  either  cruelly  or  unjustly;  that 
they  are  not  injured  at  all,  seeing  they  are  not  contending 
for  liberty — this  they  had  even  in  its  full  extent,  both  civil 
and  religious;  neither  for  any  legal  privileges,  for  they 
enjoy  all  that  their  charters  grant.  But  what  they  con- 
tend for  is  the  illegal  privilege  of  being  exempt  from  par- 
liamentary taxation — a  privilege  this  which  no  charter  ever 
gave  to  any  American  colony  yet ;  which  no  charter  can 
give,  unless  it  be  confirmed  both  by  king,  lords,  and  com- 
mons ;  which,  in  fact,  our  colonies  never  had ;  which  they 
never  claimed  till  the  present  reign ;  and  probably  they 
would  not  have  claimed  it  now  had  they  not  been  incited 
thereto  by  letters  from  England.  .   .   . 

"  This  being  the  real  state  of  the  question,  without  any 
coloring  or  aggravation,  what  impartial  man  can  either 
blame  the  king  or  commend  the  Americans? 

"  With  this  view — to  quench  the  fire  by  laying  the 
blame  where  it  was  due — the  '  Calm  Address '  was  writ- 
ten.  .   .   . 

"John  Wesley." 

Under  date  of  December  9,  i  776,  his  "  Journal  "  contains 
this  entry :  "  In  answer  to  a  very  angry  letter,  lately  pub- 
lished in  'The  Gazetteer,'  I  published  the  following:^ 

'''To  the  Rev.  Mr.  Caleb  Evans. 

"'Rev.  Sir:  You  affirm  (i)  that  I  once  "doubted 
whether  the  measures  taken  with  respect  to  America  could 
be  defended  either  on  the  foot  of  law,  equity,  or  prudence." 
I  did  doubt  of  these  five  years,  nay,  indeed, /z'<?  months  ago. 

'"You  affirm  (2)  that  I  "declared"  (last  year)  "the 
Americans  were  an  oppressed,  injured  people."  I  do  not 
remember  that  I  did ;  but  very  possibly  I  might. 

1  Wesley's  "  Works,"  vol.  iv.,  p.  445. 


EXPLANATION  OF    WESLEY'S   COURSE.  167 

"'You  affirm  (3)  that  I  then  "strongly  recommended 
an  argument  for  the  exclusive  right  of  the  colonies  to  tax 
themselves."  I  believe  I  did;  but  I  am  now  of  another 
mind.  .  .  . 

"  '  Your  humble  servant, 

"  'John  Wesley.'  " 

In  the  same  year  he  published  a  long  pamphlet  entitled 
"  Some  Observations  on  Liberty,"  in  which  he  compared 
John  Hancock  to  a  felon,  contended  against  every  propo- 
sition by  which  the  colonists  supported  their  cause,  and 
called  upon  them  to  lay  down  their  arms.  The  American 
editor  of  John  Wesley's  works,  the  celebrated  and  accom- 
plished John  Emory,  is  compelled  to  insert  as  a  foot-note  to 
this  tract,  "  As  a  political  publication  it  cannot  fail  to  meet 
the  strong  and  decided  disapprobation  of  Americans ;  and 
we  insert  it  here,  with  a  few  others  alike  foreign  to  our 
own  views,  solely  to  fulfill  our  promise  of  a  complete  edition 
of  his  works."  ^ 

It  is  an  error  to  suppose  that  this  change  reflects  in  any 
degree  adversely  upon  John  Wesley.  He  was  absolutely 
honest,  but  his  training  and  mode  of  thought  made  it 
impossible  for  him  to  sympathize  with  the  colonists  from 
the  moment  they  resorted  to  arms,  and  his  horror  of  war 
intensified  his  feelings. 

It  is  necessary  to  elucidate  this  subject  that  the  distrust 
felt  toward  the  Methodists  may  be  explained,  and  the 
honor  due  Asbury  and  those  who  stood  with  him  may  be 
intelligently  conferred. 

Asbury  regarded  tlie  change  with  discriminating  charity, 
for,  on  receiving  a  letter  from  Wesley,  he  made  this  com- 
prehensi^'e  entry : 

"  I  also  received  an  affectionate  letter  from  Mr.  Wesley, 
1  Wesley's  "  Works,"  American  edition,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  300-321- 


1 68  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap,  vii, 

and  am  truly  sorry  that  tlie  venerable  man  ever  dipped 
into  the  politics  of  America.  My  desire  is  to  live  in  love 
and  peace  with  all  men ;  to  do  them  no  harm,  but  all  the 
good  I  can.  However,  it  discovers  Mr.  Wesley's  conscien- 
tious attachment  to  the  government  under  which  he  lives. 
Had  he  been  a  subject  of  America,  no  doubt  but  he  would 
have  been  as  zealous  an  advocate  of  the  American  cause. 
But  some  inconsiderate  persons  have  taken  occasion  to 
censure  the  Methodists  in  America  on  account  of  Mr. 
Wesley's  political  sentiments."  ^ 

American  Methodism  had  fully  entered  upon  a  period 
of  external  persecution  and  internal  difificulty,  and  the 
correspondence  of  Asbury  and  Rankin  had  convinced 
Wesley  that  they  were  unable  to  agree.  He  wrote  to  the 
latter,  March  i,  1775  : 

"  Dear  Tommy  :  As  soon  as  possible  you  must  come 
to  a  full  and  clear  explanation  both  with  Brother  Asbury 
and  with  Jemmy  Dempster.  But  I  advise  Brother  Asbury 
to  return  to  England  the  first  opportunity." 

On  April  21st  of  the  same  year  he  wrote:  "Brother 
Asbury  has  sent  me  a  few  lines,  and  I  thank  him  for  them. 
But  I  do  not  advise  him  to  go  to  Antigua.  Let  him  come 
home  without  delay."- 

And  May  19th  :  "  I  doubt  not  but  Brother  Asbury  and 
you  will  part  friends ;  I  hope  I  shall  see  him  at  the  con- 
ference. He  is  quite  an  upright  man.  I  apprehend  he  will 
go  through  his  work  more  cheerfully  when  he  is  within  a 
little  distance  from  me."^ 

This  shows  that  Rankin  had  prejudiced  Wesley  against 
Asbury. 

'  "Asbury's  Journal,"  vol.  i.,  pp.   176,  177. 

2  Wesley's  "  Works,"  vol.  vii.,  p.  8.  3  H,id.,  vol.  vii.,  p.  9. 


CONSPICUOUS    TRIUMPHS.  1 69 

Having  been  informed  that  Asbury  remained  in  the 
work,  Wesley  wrote  to  Rankin,  August  13,  1775  :  "I  am 
not  sorry  that  Brother  Asbury  stays  with  you  another 
year.  In  that  time  it  will  be  seen  what  God  will  do  with 
North  America,  and  you  will  easily  judge  whether  our 
preachers  are  called  to  remain  any  longer  therein." 

Among  the  important  spiritual  results  of  the  year  were 
those  which  attended  the  preaching  of  George  Shadford 
and  his  colleagues  in  Virginia.  At  that  time  many  of  the 
planters  were  little  better  than  heathen,  and  the  country 
was  given  up  to  dissipation.  Shadford's  pathetic  eloquence 
moved  all  classes.  The  chief  dancing-master  came  to  hear 
him  clad  in  scarlet  on  the  week-days,  and  on  Sunday  in 
green,  and  was  so  affected  that  he  relinquished  a  large  and 
profitable  school  and  began  to  teach  ordinary  English 
branches.  When  Shadford  asked  his  name,  a  friend  said 
that  he  was  called  Madcap.  Shadford  responded,  "  A  very 
proper  name  for  a  dancing-master;"  but  afterward  he  found 
this  was  only  a  nickname,  his  real  name  being  Metcalf. 
This  man  became  one  of  the  most  devoted  members  of 
the  connection,  lived  for  six  or  seven  years  a  useful  life, 
and  "  died  a  great  witness  for  God." 

His  progress  checked  by  a  flood,  Shadford  applied  to  a 
planter  for  entertainment,  and  was  kindly  received.  After 
partaking  of  refreshment,  he  inquired  if  the  country  were 
well  inhabited,  and  on  being  told  that  it  was,  proposed 
to  the  planter  to  invite  his  neighbors  that  he  might  preach 
to  them.  Shadford's  description  of  the  results  is  concise 
and  quaint :  "  He  sent  out  and  we  had  many  hearers,  but 
they  were  as  wild  boars.  After  I  had  reproved  them  they 
behaved  very  well  during  the  preaching.  When  I  con- 
versed with  the  planter  and  his  wife,  I  found  them  entirely 
ignorant  of  themselves  and  of  God  ;  I  labored  to  convince 
them  both,  but  it  seemed   to  little  purpose."      It  was  not 


I70  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  vii. 

long,  however,  before  they  were  spiritually  illuminated. 
From  this  circumstance  the  place  became  a  local  appoint- 
ment, and  later  a  church  was  erected  there.  In  two  or 
three  years  it  numbered  70  persons,  and  on  the  whole  cir- 
cuit in  that  year  1800  members  were  added. 

The  Conference  of  1776  was  held  in  Baltimore,  and  the 
reports  exhibited  an  increase  of  1773  members,  the  total 
being  4921.  The  number  of  preachers  had  increased  in 
similar  ratio,  being  at  this  time  24,  9  of  whom  were  admitted 
on  trial. 

Among  them  was  Freeborn  Garrettson,  who,  having  been 
long  under  conviction  of  sin  and  a  devout  attendant  at 
church,  began  to  hear  the  Methodist  preachers,  and, 
after  months  of  mental  perturbation,  was  converted  while 
on  horseback.  His  own  words  contain  one  of  the  clearest 
delineations  in  religious  biography  of  final  surrender  of  the 
soul  to  God,  and  that  reconstruction  of  mind  and  heart 
which  became  the  basis  of  the  life-work  of  the  Methodists.^ 
Yet  the  next  morning  after  his  conversion  he  was  beset 
with  temptations  which  he  attributes  to  the  devil ;  but  a 
careful  consideration  of  his  early  experience  shows  that 
those  temptations  were  the  results  in  their  intellectual  form 
of  the  struggle  between  his  new  and  old  views,  and  the 
entire  change  of  his  relations  in  life,  which  he  saw  to  be 
the  logical  consequence  of  his  experience.  His  perturba- 
tion increased ;  for,  although  plainly  called  to  preach  and 
willing  to  act  as  a  local  supply,  he  could  not  consent  to 
become  a  traveling  preacher.  At  last  he  was  almost  weary 
of  life ;  but  after  newly  consecrating  himself  to  God,  and 
declaring  that  if  God  would  manifest  his  will  he  would 
submit,  he  threw  himself  upon  the  bed  and  immediately 
fell  asleep.  He  then  dreamed  that  the  devil  appeared  be- 
fore him  and  at  that  minute  a  good  angel  came  and  said, 

1  Bangs's  "  Life  of  Garrettson,"  p.  36. 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.  171 

"Will  you  go  and  preach  the  gospel?"  He  declined  on 
the  ground  that  he  was  unworthy ;  whereupon  the  devil 
seized  him,  and  he  saw  that  there  was  but  one  way 
of  escape,  and  that  a  narrow  one.  The  good  angel  again 
asked  him  if  he  would  preach,  and  he  consented.  Awak- 
ing in  a  rapture,  he  resolved  to  go ;  yet  after  he  set  out  he 
was  SQ.  tortured  that  he  was  "  ready  to  desire  that  his  horse 
might  throw  him  and  put  an  end  to  his  life,  or  maim  him 
so  that  he  might  not  be  able  to  go  on."  These  struggles 
continued  until  the  Conference  of  1776,  when  he  was  duly 
received  on  trial  and  fully  established  in  a  career  which  was 
like  the  path  of  the  just — a  shining  light,  increasing  more 
and  more  unto  the  perfect  day. 

Asbury  was  unable  to  reach  the  conference  at  Balti- 
more;  but  on  the  27th  of  May,  when  informed  by  Rankin 
that  he  was  appointed  to  Baltimore,  he  cheerfully  sub- 
mitted, though  he  feared  that  the  climate  would  be  inju- 
rious to  him. 

In  less  than  three  weeks  after  the  conference  adjourned, 
the  motion  was  made  in  the  Continental  Congress  to  de- 
clare the  colonies  free  and  independent ;  and  on  the  4th 
of  July  the  immortal  Declaration  of  Independence  was 
adopted,  after  which  loyalty  to  the  British  crown  became 
a  crime.  Prayers  for  the  king  were  forbidden  on  penalty 
of  imprisonment.  No  man,  at  least  in  the  vicinity  of  active 
operations,  could  travel  without  a  passport,  and  none  could 
be  obtained  by  those  who  refused  to  take  the  test-oaths, 
which  varied  in  different  colonies,  some  requiring  the  tak- 
ing up  of  arms  in  favor  of  national  independence  if  called 
upon  to  do  so  by  the  authorities. 

Early  in  the  summer  Asbury  had  repaired  to  Baltimore, 
where  he  was  received  by  Mr.  Gough.  In  one  of  his  ex- 
cursions he  was  arrested  for  preaching  the  gospel  and  fined 
five  pounds.     Though  his  health  was  very  poor,  his  daily 


172  THE   ME'J'hODlSTS.  [Chap.  vii. 

work  was  as  follows:  "To  read  about  a  hundred  pages  a 
day ;  usually  to  pray  in  public  five  times  a  day  and  to 
lecture  in  prayer-meeting  every  evening." 

The  Cherokee  Indians  had  begun  to  break  out,  and  on 
the  31st  of  July  his  mind  was  disturbed  by  the  reports  of 
slaughters.  English  ships  were  coasting  to  and  fro,  watch- 
ing for  some  advantages  ;  but  "  what,"  asked  he,  "  can  they 
expect  to  accomplish  without  an  army  of  two  or  three 
hundred  thousand  men  ?  and  even  then  there  would  be 
but  little  prospect  of  their  success." 

Mr.  Gough  accompanied  Asbury  to  the  warm  sulphur 
springs,  where  the  latter  remained  six  weeks.  He  thought 
himself,  in  this  visit,  still  in  the  way  of  duty,  and  after 
a  week's  stay  wrote :  "  There  is  a  manifest  check  to  the 
frightful  tide  of  immorality,  and  the  prejudices  of  many 
people  are  in  a  great  degree  removed,  so  that  I  hope  that 
my  visit  to  this  place  will  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  souls  of 
some  as  well  as  for  the  benefit  of  my  own  body."  While 
there  Asbury  met  members  of  other  denominations,  and 
records:  "  My  spirit  has  been  much  united  to  the  faithful 
people  of  God  of  every  denomination."  The  house  in  which 
he  stayed  was  not  the  most  agreeable.  "  The  size  of  it  was 
twenty  feet  by  sixteen,  and  there  were  seven  beds  and  six- 
teen persons  therein,  and  some  noisy  children."  The  parson 
there  had  encouraged  the  gentlemen  to  oppose  him.  When 
he  departed  he  says:  "I  this  day  turn  my  back  on  the 
springs  as  the  best  and  the  worst  place  that  I  ever  was  in — 
good  for  health  but  most  injurious  to  religion." 

He  received  information  on  the  2d  of  April,  1777,  that 
some  of  his  brethren  had  determined  to  leave  the  country, 
and  he  wrote  to  George  Shadford  that  as  long  as  he  could 
stay  and  preach  without  injuring  his  conscience  it  appeared 
to  be  his  duty  to  abide  with  the  flock. 

The  Conference  of  1777  was  held  May  20th,  at  a  preach- 


BAXKIN'S  LAST  SEMMOX  I\  AMERICA.  173 

ing-place  near  Ut-er  Creek,  in  Harford  County,  Mary- 
land, and,  notwithstanding  the  troublous  times,  there  had 
been  an  increase  of  2047  in  the  membership,  the  total  being 
6968,  and  an  increase  of  preachers  from  24  to  36.  Four- 
teen had  been  admitted  on  trial,  the  first  of  the  list  being 
Caleb  B.  Pedicord,  a  man  of  unusual  sweetness  of  spirit 
and  efficiency  in  conversions  and  every  form  of  spiritual  in- 
fluence. Another  was  John  Dickins,  of  high  intellectual 
ability.  New  York  appears  in  the  list  of  stations,  but 
without  a  minister,  as  it  was  inaccessible  by  reason  of  the 
occupation  of  the  city  by  the  British  army.  Another  fast- 
day  was  appointed.  The  preachers  resolved  not  to  take 
any  steps  to  detach  themselves  from  the  work  of  God  for 
the  ensuing  year,  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  preach- 
ing of  funeral  sermons  had  been  carried  so  far  as  to  become 
contemptible,  they  determined  to  inform  every  society  that 
they  would  not  preach  any  funeral  sermons  except  for 
those  "  that  we  have  reason  to  think  died  in  the  fear  and 
favor  of  God." 

Twenty  preachers  were  present  at  this  conference ;  and 
the  business  was  conducted  with  harmony,  peace,  and  love. 
The  brethren  who  intended  to  return  to  Europe  agreed  to 
remain  until  the  way  was  quite  open.  The  conference 
closed,  however,  in  deepest  distress.  Asbury  remarks  that 
it  was  such  a  parting  as  he  never  saw  before,  the  Ameri- 
can preachers  thinking  that  they  should  not  see  the  faces 
of  their  English  fellow-laborers  any  more ;  for  these  men 
could  not  take  the  oaths  required,  and  therefore  were  liable 
at  any  moment  to  arrest,  and  thus  would  be  prevented  from 
performing  the  work  of  the  ministry. 

Soon  after  the  conference  Asbury  was  invited  by  the 
vestrymen  of  Garrettson  Church  to  become  its  pastor;  but 
declined  the  call,  justly  regarding  himself  as  providentially 
occupied. 


1 74  rilE  MErilODISrS.  [Chap.  vn. 

On  the  2 1st  of  July  Asbury  heard  Rankin  preach  his 
last  sermon  in  America,  and  remarks  that  his  own  mind 
was  "  a  little  dejected,  and  he  felt  some  desire  to  return 
to  England,  but  was  willing  to  commit  his  way  to  the 
Lord,"  and  should  do  nothing  that  would  separate  him 
from  his  brethren,  adding:  "I  hope  to  live  and  die  a 
Methodist." 

In  the  autumn  of  1775  Robert  Williams  died,  and  As- 
bury preached  his  funeral  sermon,  characterizing  him  in 
terms  which  give  his  name  a  place  of  honor  in  the  history 
of  this  country  and  of  Christianity :  "  He  has  been  a  very 
useful,  laborious  man,  and  the  Lord  gave  him  many  seals 
to  his  ministry.  Perhaps  no  one  in  America  has  been  an 
instrument  of  awakening  so  many  souls  as  God  has  awak- 
ened by  him."  ^ 

Unable  to  take  the  test-oaths  or  to  sympathize  with  the 
colonies,  Rankin  left  the  country.  In  an  autobiographical 
narrative  ^  he  says:  "The  British  being  in  possession  of 
Philadelphia,  I  left  Maryland  in  September,  and  through 
divers  dangers  got  safe  into  that  city  in  the  month  of  No- 
vember. I  spent  the  winter  there,  and  left  the  capes  of 
Delaware  on  the  17th  of  March,  1778,  and  arrived  safe  at 
the  Cove  of  Cork  on  the  15th  of  April." 

Martin  Rodda,  another  English  preacher,  having  been 
so  indiscreet  as  to  distribute  copies  of  the  king's  procla- 
mation, was  obliged  to  escape  to  the  coast  by  the  help  of 
slaves,  but  reached  Philadelphia  and  took  refuge  in  the 
British  fleet.  In  October,  1777,  Shadford  informed  As- 
bury that  Rankin  and  Rodda  had  left  the  continent.  This, 
however,  must  refer  to  their  retiring  into  the  British  lines, 
after  which  Shadford  had  no  communication  with  them 
and  supposed  that  they  had  departed  to  England. 

1  "  Asbury's  Journal,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  162,  163. 
i*  "  Arminian  Magazine,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  197. 


A  SB  UK  Y  FORSAKEN.  I  75 

After  the  departure  of  Rodda  and  Rankin,  only  Shad- 
ford  of  the  EngHsh  preachers  remained  with  Asbury. 
Early  in  i  778  Asbury  was  staying  with  his  friend,  Thomas 
White,  who  was  a  devout  and  consistent  member  of  the 
English  church,  a  distinguished  citizen,  and  Chief  Justice 
of  the  Common  Pleas.  His  wife,  of  the  same  communion, 
was  of  the  type  of  Susanna  Wesley,  training  her  family 
and  giving  special  Bible  instruction  to  her  slaves.  The 
first  time  she  heard  Methodist  preaching  she  recognized 
its  predominant  spiritual  quality,  and  found  in  its  fervency 
a  response  to  the  longings  of  her  own  ardent  nature.  In- 
ducing her  husband  to  accompany  her  with  the  children 
to  one  of  their  appointments,  he  was  so  favorably  afTected 
by  what  he  heard  that  he  invited  the  preachers  to  his  resi- 
dence, where  services  were  held  regularly  till  the  erection 
of  "White's  Chapel." 

While  here  Shadford  urged  upon  Asbury  to  consider 
whether  it  was  not  their  duty  to  return  home.  They  agreed 
to  spend  a  day  together  in  fasting  and  prayer  for  the  set- 
tlement of  this  question ;  but  their  impressions  at  its  close 
were  very  dissimilar.  Said  Asbury,  "  My  convictions  are 
as  clear  and  strong  as  ever  that  it  is  my  duty  to  remain." 
Shadford  said,  "  My  work  in  America  is  done ;  I  feel  with 
as  much  certainty  that  it  is  my  duty  to  return  now  as  I 
felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  come  hither  four  years  ago." 
Then  said  Asbury,  "  One  of  us  must  be  in  error."  "  Not 
necessarily  so,"  was  the  reply  ;  "  I  may  have  a  call  to  go 
and  you  to  stay."  ^ 

Asbury,  referring  to  the  departure  of  George  Shadford 
and  Samuel  Spraggs,  ^  says : "  I  am  under  some  heaviness 
of  mind.  But  it  is  no  wonder:  three  thousand  miles 
from  home ;  my  friends  have  left  me ;  I  am  considered  by 

1  "  Bishop  Asbury,"  by  Frederick  W.  Briggs,  M.A.  (London,  third  edi- 
tion, p.  119).  2  Who  went  North. 


176  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  vii. 

some  as  an  enemy  of  the  country,  every  day  liable  to  be 
seized  by  violence  and  abused.  However,  all  this  is  but 
a  trifle  to  suffer  for  Christ  and  the  salvation  of  souls. 
Lord,  stand  by  me !  "  ^ 

Shadford  said  subsequently  :  "  I  believe  we  both  obeyed 
the  call  of  Providence.  We  saw  we  must  part,  though  we 
loved  as  David  and  Jonathan  ;  and,  indeed,  these  times 
made  us  love  one  another  in  a  peculiar  manner.  Oh,  how 
glad  were  we  to  meet  and  pour  our  griefs  into  each  other's 
bosom! "  - 

Although  provided  with  a  passport,  Shadford  was  at- 
tacked on  the  highway  and  his  life  threatened  ;  but  he 
returned  in  safety  to  England.  There  he  was  very  useful, 
highly  honored,  and  lived  to  old  age,  when,  though  blind, 
he  led  a  class  of  one  hundred  persons.  At  evening-time  it 
was  light,  for  in  his  last  years  he  was  happily  married,  and  his 
blindness  was  cured  by  a  surgical  operation.  "  You  will 
have  the  pleasure,"  said  the  surgeon,  "  of  seeing  to  use 
your  knife  and  fork  again."  "  Doctor,"  replied  the  vet- 
eran, "  I  shall  have  a  greater  pleasure — that  of  seeing  to 
read  my  Bible."  •' 

This  good  man  "  excelled  any  of  Wtsley's  other  Amer- 
ican missionaries  in  immediate  usefulness."'* 

Methodists  were  now  almost  universally  under  the  sus- 
picion of  being  Tories.  In  Maryland  the  test-oaths  re- 
quired a  pledge  to  take  up  arms  if  called  upon  to  do  so  by 
the  authorities,  and  this  was  against  Asbury's  conscience 
as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel.  He  therefore  retired  to  Del- 
aware, making  his  home  with  Judge  White.  In  March, 
1778,  he  wrote:  "Blessed  be  God!  his  providence  hath 
cast  my  lot  in  a  quiet,  agreeable  family,  where  I  can  make 

1  "Asbury's  Journal,"  vol.  i.,  p.  268. 

2  Stevens's  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  vol,  i.,  p.  340. 

3  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  342.  *  Ibid. 


AKKEST   OF  JUDGE    WHITE.  I  77 

the  best  improvement  of  my  time  in  study  and  devotion. 
I  intend  to  abide  here  for  a  season  till  the  storm  is  abated. 
The  grace  of  God  is  a  sufficient  support  while  I  bear  the 
reproach  of  men  and  am  rewarded  evil  for  all  the  good 
which  I  have  done  and  desire  to  do  for  mankind.  I  am 
strongly  persuaded  that  divine  Providence  will  bring  about 
a  change  before  long."  ^ 

Judge  White  was  arrested  on  the  2d  of  April,  and  Mrs. 
White,  the  children,  and  Asbury  were  left  in  great  alarm. 
Regarding  himself  as  to  some  extent  the  cause  of  his 
host's  arrest,  Asbury  determined  to  depart  as  soon  as 
possible.  He  traveled  over  a  lonesome  and  crooked  road, 
but  late  at  night  found  a  shelter  where  he  thought  he 
might  remain,  comforting  himself  by  reflecting  that  his 
trials  were  like  those  of  the  saints  of  olden  times  who 
wandered  in  deserts,  in  mountains,  in  dens  and  caves  of 
the  earth,  but  recognizing  the  fact  that  their  afflictions  far 
exceeded  his.  The  next  day  he  spent  much  of  his  time 
reading  the  Bible  and  the  Greek  Testament ;  but  a  report 
reached  him  that  it  would  be  better  for  him  to  depart.  In 
the  morning  he  started,  but  had  to  hide  in  a  swamp  till  about 
sunset,  when  he  took  refuge  with  a  friend. 

While  in  this  neighborhood  news  came  that  Joseph 
Hartley  had  been  arrested  in  Queen  Anne  County,  Mary- 
land, on  the  preceding  Sunday.  This  depressed  him  ;  but, 
called  on  to  visit  a  man  in  distress  of  mind,  and  being  suc- 
cessful in  leading  him  to  trust  in  the  Lord,  he  encouraged 
himself  by  the  thought  that  Providence  might  have  sent  him 
there  for  that  purpose. 

He  was  hidden  among  these  strangers  for  a  month,  when 
he  ventured  back  to  the  mansion  of  Judge  White.  The 
latter  had  been  seized  on  the  charge  of  being  a  Methodist 
and  presumptively  a  Tory,  but  after  five  weeks'  detention 

1  "  Asbury's  Journal,"  vol.  i.,  p.  269. 


1 78  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  \ii. 

was  acquitted.  With  him  Asbury  spent  many  months; 
but,  after  a  brief  period  of  almost  absolute  concealment, 
he  began  correspondence  with  Methodists,  moved  about 
among  the  societies  near  at  hand,  and  sometimes  preached. 

In  the  same  State,  and  at  no  great  distance,  he  gained 
the  friendship  of  Judge  Barrett,  and  of  a  far  more  distin- 
guished man,  Richard  Bassett,  a  renowned  lawyer  of  Del- 
aware, a  member  of  the  convention  which  framed  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  a  Senator  in  the  first 
Congress,  and  a  judge  of  the  United  States  Court  for 
the  district  including  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  and 
Delaware.^ 

The  governor  of  Delaware,  who  was  not  a  Methodist 
nor  even  a  religious  man,  came  to  regard  Asbury  and  the 
Methodists  with  such  favor  that  he  wrote  to  the  governor 
of  Maryland  in  behalf  of  the  suffering  Methodists  in  that 
State,  leading  to  their  release  from  prison.  Lednum  states 
that  a  letter  which  Asbury  wrote  to  Rankin  in  1777  (in 
which  he  imparted  his  belief  that  the  Americans  would 
become  a  free  and  independent  nation,  and  declared  that  he 
was  too  much  knit  in  affection  to  many  of  them  to  leave 
them,  and  that  Methodist  preachers  had  a  great  work  to  do 
under  God  in  this  country)  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
authorities  in  America,  and  had  produced  a  decided  change 
in  their  feelings  toward  Asbury. 

It  was  while  Asbury  was  concealed  at  Judge  White's 
that  Bassett  met  him.  Being  on  a  professional  journey, 
he  called  there  to  spend  the  night,  and  as  he  opened  the 
door  caught  a  glimpse  of  Asbury  and  some  other  preach- 
ers, and  said  to  Mrs.  White,  "  Who  are  those  men  dressed 
in  sable  garments  and  keeping  themselves  aside?"  She 
replied,  "  They  are  some  of  the  best  men  in  the  world ; 
they  are  Methodist  preachers."    Bassett,  disturbed  by  this 

1  Cooper's  "  Discourse  on  the  Life  of  Asbury." 


JUDGE  BASSETT'S  HEROISM.  179 

information,  replied,  "Then  I  cannot  stay  here  to-night." 
Said  Mrs.  White,  "  You  must  stay  ;  they  cannot  hurt  you." 

At  the  table  Bassett  was  delighted  with  Asbury's 
conversation,  and  invited  him  to  call  in  case  he  visited 
Dover.  On  his  return  home  he  told  his  wife  of  this  meet- 
ing and  what  he  had  done ;  whereat  she  was  greatly 
troubled,  and  he  could  appease  her  only  by  saying,  "  It  is 
not  likely  that  he  will  come."  But  a  while  later,  looking 
out  of  his  window,  he  saw  the  Methodist  approaching. 
"That  evening  Asbury  charmed  by  his  conversation  a 
large  circle  at  the  tea-table  till  late  into  the  night." 

After  Judge  White  had  publicly  avowed  his  connection 
with  the  Methodists  he  visited  Judge  Bassett.  It  was  re- 
ported about  the  streets  of  Dover  that  a  Methodist  was 
there,  and  a  crowd,  who  thought  all  Methodists  Tories, 
surrounded  the  house  to  seize  him.  Bassett,  who  was  a 
militia  officer,  with  drawn  sword  met  them  at  the  door  and 
shouted,  "  He  is  no  more  a  Tory  than  you  are.  You  shall 
have  him  only  by  passing  over  my  dead  body."  ^ 

The  Conference  of  1778  was  held  at  Leesburg,  Va.,  May 
19th,  and  its  records  show  a  decline  in  members  of  873 
and  in  preachers  stationed  of  7.  Important  changes  had 
transpired  in  all  parts  of  the  country  where  Methodism 
existed.  Six  new  circuits  were  added  at  this  conference 
in  Virginia,  and  the  Carolina  circuit  in  North  Carolina  was 
divided  into  three,  named  respectively  Roanoke,  Tar  River, 
and  New  Hope  ;  but  on  account  of  the  war  five  of  the 
old  circuits  were  wholly  omitted  from  the  minutes ;  these 
were  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Chester,  Frederick,  and 
Norfolk. 

Asbury  was  a  firm  believer  that  evil  pursues  those  who 
obstruct  the  Word  of  God.  In  harmony  with  this  view, 
under  date  of  May  16,  1778,  he  entered  in  his  "Journal" 

1  Stevens  and  Lednum. 


l8o  THE   MI/niODISTS.  [Chai'.  vii. 

these  words:  "  It  may  be  observed  that  two  of  our  preach- 
ers have  been  apprehended  rather  than  do  violence  to 
conscience ;  and  the  men  by  whom  the}-  were  both  taken 
were  dangerously  wounded  within  a  few  weeks  after  they 
had  laid  hands  upon  them."  ' 

He  often  felt  his  loneliness :  "  I  saw  myself  pent  up  in 
a  corner;  my  body  in  a  manner  worn  out;  my  English 
brethren  gone,  so  that  I  had  no  one  to  consult."  He  thus 
prayed  :  "  Lord,  must  I  pine  away  and  quench  the  light 
of  Israel?  "  - 

Throughout  the  year  1778  his  "Journal"  tells  of  con- 
stant work.  The  entry  for  December  18th  is  :  "  For  twenty 
months  before  these  troublesome  times  fulh'  came  I  fore- 
saw the  probability  of  them,  and  was  much  stirred  up  to 
rely  upon  God  and  prepare  for  the  worst."  ^  January  2, 
1779,  he  says,  "Upon  mature  reflection,  I  do  not  repent 
my  late  voluntary  retirement  in  the  State  of  Delaware."* 

A  significant  entry  occurs  for  April  4,  1779:  "Lord's 
day. — I  breakfasted  with  a  Presbyterian  minister,  and  en- 
deavored to  answer  some  objections  which  he  started  ;  but 
could  not  attempt  a  vindication  of  those  amongst  us  who 
had  dipped  deep  in  politics."  •"' 

Two  conferences  were  held  this  year;  the  first  for  the 
Northern  stations,  at  the  house  of  Judge  White,  on  the  28th 
of  April.  All  the  preachers  were  present,  and  Caleb  Pedi- 
cord  was  the  only  probationer  received  into  full  member- 
ship at  this  conference.  Several  important  entries  are 
made,  and  for  the  first  time  appears  the  question,  "  Who 
desist  from  traveling?"  under  which  are  recorded  two 
names.  "  Who  of  the  preachers  are  willing  to  take  the 
stations  this  conference  shall  place  them  in  ?  "  Sixteen 
signatures  were  appended  to  this.     No  helper  was  to  make 

1  "  Asbury's  Journal,"  vol.  i.,  p.  277.  •»  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  298. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  287.  5  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  308. 
i*  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  296. 


DEFIXIXG   ASBUKV'S  PREROGATIVES.  i8l 

any  alteration  in  the  circuit  or  appoint  preachers  to  any 
new  place  without  consulting  the  assistant.  It  was  stated 
that  the  Delaware  Conference  was  held  for  the  convenience 
of  the  preachers  in  the  Northern  stations,  that  all  might 
have  an  opportunity  of  meeting,  and  that  it  was  considered 
as  preparatory  to  the  conference  in. Virginia.  They  agreed 
to  guard  against  a  separation  from  the  church,  directly  or 
indirectly,  to  meet  the  children  once  a  fortnight,  and  to 
examine  parents  with  regard  to  their  conduct  toward  their 
children. 

But  the  questions  which  were  to  exert  the  most  far- 
reaching  influence  over  American  Methodism  were  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth. i 

"  Qiies.  12.  Ought  not  Brother  Asbury  to  act  as  General 
Assistant  in  America? 

"He  ought:  first,  on  account  of  his  age;  second,  be- 
cause originally  appointed  by  Mr.  Wesley  ;  third,  being 
joined  with  Messrs.  Rankin  and  Shadford  by  express  order 
from  Mr.  Wesley. 

"Qiu's.  13.    How  far  shall  his  power  extend? 

"  On  hearing  every  preacher  for  and  against  what  is 
in  debate,  the  right  of  determination  shall  rest  with  him, 
according  to  the  minutes." 

Twenty  days  later,  May  18,  1779,  at  Fluvanna,  in  the 
Broken  Back  Church,  another  conference  was  held  for  the 
Southern  stations,  at  which  seven  preachers  were  admitted 
on  trial.  Extensive  revivals  had  taken  place  in  all  parts 
of  the  connection  not  directly  affected  by  the  war,  and  a 
table  of  the  members  in  the  society  showed  8577,  an  in- 
crease of  2482  over  the  last  year,  and  of  the  preachers,  49. 
No  statistics  are  given  of  New  York.  Philadelphia  is 
credited  with  89  members,  the  whole  State  of  New  Jersey 
with  140,  and  Pennsjdvania,  exclusive  of  Philadelphia,  with 
1  "  Minutes  of  Conferences,"  vol.  i.,  p.  10. 


l82  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  vii. 

90 ;  Delaware  with  795,  Baltimore  circuit  with  900,  and  Vir- 
ginia and  North  Carolina  included  nearly  all  the  remainder. 

The  conference  made  short  work  of  those  who  differed 
from  one  of  its  prudential  regulations.  "  In  what  light 
shall  we  view  those  preachers  who  receive  money  by  sub- 
scription? Alls.  As  excluded  from  the  Methodist  con- 
nection." 

During  1779  troubles  arose  from  a  desire  and  determi- 
nation among  the  people  of  the  South  to  have  the  ordi- 
nances administered  to  them.  This  question  had  arisen  in 
1777  under  the  presidency  of  Rankin,  and  was  postponed 
until  the  Conference  of  1 778,  at  which  William  Watters,  the 
oldest  American  preacher,  presided.  The  same  question 
was  discussed  and  "laid  over  until  the  next  conference." 

It  was  well  understood  by  Asbury  and  Watters  that  the 
Southern  brethren  were  determined  to  have  the  sacraments. 
Their  arguments  were  strong :  the  war  separated  them 
from  Wesley;  most  of  the  clergymen  of  the  Church  of 
England  had  fled  the  country,  and  the  few  that  were  left, 
with  one  or  two  exceptions,  were  without  the  spirit,  and 
had  thrown  off  in  large  part  the  semblance,  of  piety. 
The  people  generally  were  destitute  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
and  there  was  no  one  to  baptize  the  children. 

Watters  endeavored  at  the  conference  at  Fluvanna  to 
dissuade  the  people  from  taking  the  matter  into  their  own 
hands.  After  a  considerable  discussion  they  appointed 
from  the  oldest  brethren  a  committee  to  ordain  ministers. 
A  change  was  made  at  this  conference  concerning  the 
length  of  time  that  preachers  should  remain  upon  trial. 
Hitherto  the  practice  had  been  to  take  a  preacher  upon 
trial  for  one  year  only,  and  then  admit  him  into  full  mem- 
bership ;  but  the  conference  decided  that  the  preachers 
who  had  been  upon  trial  one  year  should  remain  upon  trial 
until  the  next  conference. 


SELF-ORIGINATED   ORDINATIONS.  183 

The  committee  thus  chosen  ordained  themselves  and 
proceeded  to  ordain  and  set  apart  other  ministers  for  the 
same  purpose — that  they  might  administer  the  holy  ordi- 
nances to  the  church  of  Christ.  1  They  went  forth  to  their 
circuits  as  formerly,  "  and  administered  the  sacraments 
wherever  they  went,  provided  the  people  were  willing  to 
partake  with  them."  The  leaders  were  zealous,  and  the 
greater  part  very  devout ;  and  most  of  the  preachers  in 
the  South,  and  the  larger  part  of  the  members,  sympathized 
with  the  plan.  However,  "  some  of  the  old  Methodists 
would  not  commune  with  them,  but  steadily  adhered  to 
their  former  customs."  - 

Under  the  new  plan  the  preachers  were  very  successful 
in  the  South ;  many  conversions  took  place,  and  a  general 
spirit  of  liveliness  and  unction  accompanied  the  work. 
But  the  preachers  north  of  Virginia  took  a  decided  stand 
against  the  step,  seeing  in  it  danger  of  a  separation,  and 
the  result  was  "  that  both  parties  trembled  for  the  ark  of 
God  and  shuddered  at  the  thought  of  dividing  the  church 
of  Christ."  For  a  considerable  period  there  seemed  little 
ground  to  hope  that  they  would  ever  recede  from  that  plan.^ 

During  Asbury's  retirement  he  made  the  acquaintance 
and  gained  the  friendship  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  M'Gaw,  an  in- 
fluential clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England,  through 
whom,  in  Dover,  the  capital  of  Delaware,  Asbury  was  in- 
troduced to  a  number  of  families  who  subsequently  be- 
came Methodists.  Dr.  M'Gaw  soon  afterward  became 
rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church  in  Philadelphia,  and  so  zeal- 
ously espoused  the  cause  of  the  Methodists  that  in  1779 
"  Forrest  Chapel,"  the  first  Methodist  chapel  in  the  State, 
was  erected  in  Dover  through  his  efforts.'* 

The  ninth  Annual   Conference  was  held  in  Baltimore, 

1  Lee's  "  History  of  the  Methodists,"  p.  69.       2  Jbid,  p.  70.       3  ibid. 
*  It  was  afterward  called  "  Thomas  Chapel." 


1 84  ^'^//^   ME'J-JIODISTS.  [CiiAi'.  vii. 

April  24,  1 780,  and  shows  a  decline  in  membership  of 
'J I,  a  gain  in  Philadelphia  of  i,  a  loss  in  Baltimore  of  20, 
and  in  ministers  of  7. 

The  important  business  transacted  showed  that  the 
society  was  slowly  developing  into  a  denomination.  A 
form  of  deed  for  the  preaching-house  was  printed,  and 
provisions  made  for  the  appointment  of  trustees.  It  was 
ordered  that  every  traveling  preacher  should  take  a  license 
at  every  conference  ;  that  Brother  Asburj',  on  behalf  of  the 
conference,  should  sign  these ;  that  no  local  preacher  or 
exhorter  should  presume  to  speak  in  public  without  a  note 
of  authority  once  every  quarter  (if  required)  from  the  as- 
sistant ;  that  the  preachers  should  speak  before  prayer  to 
every  person,  one  by  one,  in  families  where  they  lodged, 
"  if  time  will  permit,  or  give  a  family  exhortation  after 
reading  a  chapter." 

Certain  questions  with  the  answers  are  so  important  that 
they  must  be  given  in  full: 

"Qucs.  12.  Shall  we  continue  in  close  connection  with 
the  church,  and  press  our  people  to  a  closer  communion 
with  her? 

"Yes." 

"  Ques.  20.  Does  this  whole  conference  disapprove  the 
step  our  brethren  have  taken  in  Virginia? 

"  Yes. 

"Q7CCS.  21.  Do  we  look  upon  them  no  longer  as  Metho- 
dists in  connection  with  Mr.  Wesley  and  us  till  they  come 
back  ?  1 

"  Agreed. 
-     ''Ques.   22.    Shall    Brothers    Asbury,    Garrettson,   and 
Watters  attend  the  Virginia  Conference,  and  inform  them 
of  our  proceedings  in  this,  and  receive  their  answer? 

1  Tliis  refers  to  a  partial  sejiaration  which  took  place  in  \'irginia  on  account 
of  the  ordinances. 


ERECTION   OE  "  BARRETT'S   CHAPEL."  I  85 

"Yes." 

"Qaes.  26.  What  must  be  the  conditions  of  our  union 
with  our  Virginia  brethren? 

"  To  suspend  all  their  administrations  for  one  year,  and 
all  meet  together  in  Baltimore." 

'' Ques.  16.  Ought  not  this  conference  to  require  those 
traveling  preachers  who  hold  slaves  to  give  promises  to  set 
them  free? 

"  Yes. 

"Q?ies.  17.  Does  this  conference  acknowledge  that  slav- 
ery is  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God,  man,  and  nature,  and 
hurtful  to  society  ;  contrary  to  the  dictates  of  conscience 
and  pure  religion,  and  doing  that  which  we  would  not  that 
others  should  do  to  us  and  ours?  Do  we  pass  our  disap- 
probation on  all  our  friends  who  keep  slaves,  and  advise 
their  freedom  ? 

"Yes." 

"Ques.  2T).  Do  we  disapprove  of  the  practice  of  distill- 
ing grain  into  liquor?  Shall  we  disown  our  friends  who 
will  not  renounce  the  practice? 

"Yes." 

A  few  days  after  the  adjournment  of  the  conference  a 
deed  was  executed  for  ground  on  which  to  erect  a  chapel, 
which  was  speedily  constructed  sufficiently  to  admit  of 
occupation  for  religious  services,  though  it  remained  un- 
finished until  two  generations  had  passed  away.  It  was 
forty-two  by  forty-eight  feet,  built  of  brick,  two  stories 
high,  and  had  a  vestry-room  connected  with  it.  In  No- 
vember of  the  same  year,  a  floor  having  been  laid  and 
rough  seats  arranged,  the  first  quarterly  meeting  was  held 
in  it,  and  a  thousand  people  attended.  It  was  built  about 
a  mile  from  Frederica,  by  Judge  Barrett,  and  hence  known 
as  "  Barrett's  Chapel." 

While  it  was  being  erected,  a  gentleman  of  the  neigh- 


1 86  THE   ME77/ODIS7'S.  [Ciiap.  vn. 

borhood  wished  to  know  what  use  was  to  be  made  of  it. 
Being  told  that  it  was  a  place  of  worship  for  the  Metho- 
dists, he  said,  "  It  is  unnecessary  to  build  such  a  house, 
for  by  the  time  the  war  is  over,  a  corn-crib  will  hold  them 
all."     Its  erection  caused  much  opposition. 

In  the  spring  of  1780,  probably  in  the  month  of  April, 
Asbury  emerged  from  his  retirement,  which  had  lasted 
two  years  and  one  month,  and,  after  meeting  with  the 
preachers  in  conference  at  Baltimore,  made  a  tour  through 
Virginia  for  the  purpose  of  settling  the  difficulties  con- 
cerning the  ordinances.  He  had  previously  written  to 
the  leaders  of  the  movement,  and  conceded  that  strong 
grounds  existed  for  their  views,  and  acknowledged  that 
they  were  governed  by  high  moral  and  spiritual  consid- 
erations. It  is  clear  that  the  Virginia  preachers  were  for 
turning  out  of  the  society  all  who  would  not  submit  to 
their  administration  ;  that  Asbury  had  been  endeavoring 
to  unite  the  Protestant  Episcopal  minister  and  the  Metho- 
dists, but  the  dissenters  exclaimed :  "  We  don't  want  your 
unconverted  ministers;  the  people  will  not  receive  them."  ^ 
He  then  records  a  purpose  to  "  turn  out  shortly  among 
them."  In  pursuance  of  this  plan  he  tarried  with  Mr. 
Gough  at  Perry  Hall,  preparing  conditions  for  a  partial  rec- 
onciliation, in  hopes  of  bringing  about  a  real  one.  De- 
scribing his  state  of  mind,  he  says,  "  I  go  with  a  heavy 
heart,  and  fear  the  violence  of  a  party  of  positive  men." 

Journeying  southward  with  Freeborn  Garrettson,  they 
stayed  at  a  hotel  about  forty  miles  from  Baltimore. 
Garrettson  talked  with  the  landlord  on  the  subject  of 
religion,  and  prayed  with  him  at  night  and  in  the  morn- 
ing, for  he  would  not  consent  to  call  his  family  together. 
A  high  eulogium  is  pronounced  upon  Garrettson  by  As- 
bury :  "  Brother  Garrettson  will  let  no  person  escape  a  relig- 

1  "  Asbury's  Journal,"  vol.  i.,  p.  337. 


ALARMING   DISCORD.  1 87 

ious  lecture  that  comes  in  his  way.  Sure  he  is  faithful, 
but  what  am  I  ?  "  ^ 

When  seventy  miles  on  their  way  they  were  entertained 
by  Mr.  Arnold,  of  whom  Asbury  says-.  "We  found  the 
plague  was  begun ;  the  good  man  Arnold  was  warm  for 
the  ordinances."  At  various  points  on  the  route  he  met 
the  people,  and  says  that  they  were  full  of  the  ordinances ; 
and  at  last  reached  Mannakin-town,  where  the  Virginia 
Conference  had  agreed  to  meet.  Notwithstanding  the 
embarrassing  circumstances,  Asbury  "  conducted  himself 
with  a  cheerful  freedom,  but  found  that  there  was  a  sup- 
pression in  heart  and  practice."  He  spoke  to  his  country- 
man, John  Dickins,  and  found  him  opposed  to  continuance 
in  union  with  the  Episcopal  Church.  Watters  and  Garrett- 
son  concurred,  but  all  with  whom  they  conversed  were 
inflexible.  The  conference  having  assembled,  Asbury, 
Watters,  and  Garrettson,  afterward  joined  by  Dromgoole, 
did  not  enter  until  specially  invited.  Asbury,  being  per- 
mitted to  speak,  read  Wesley's  "  Thoughts  against  a  Sepa- 
ration," showed  his  letters  of  instruction  from  Wesley,  set 
before  them  the  sentiments  of  the  Delaware  and  Baltimore 
conferences,  read  the  epistles  that  had  passed  between  them, 
his  letter  to  Gatch,  and  the  answer  of  Dickins.  After  this 
discussion  the  preachers  seemed  still  more  estranged,  and 
Asbury,  Garrettson,  Watters,  and  Dromgoole  withdrew  to 
deliberate  on  the  condition  offered,  which  was  a  suspension 
for  one  year  of  the  measures  which  they  had  taken,  that 
correspondence  might  be  had  with  Wesley.  For  an  hour 
the  advocates  of  ordination  deliberated,  and  answered  that 
they  could  not  submit  to  the  terms  of  union. 

Asbury  says,  "  I  then  prepared  to  leave  the  house 
and  go  to  a  near  neighbor's  to  lodge,  under  the  heaviest 
cloud  I  ever  felt  in  America."  2    He  returned  on  Wednes- 

1-  "  Asbury's  Journal,"  vol.  i.,  p.  366.  2  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  367. 


l88  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  vii. 

day,  the  loth,  to  take  leave  of  the  conference,  intending 
to  start  immediately  for  the  North,  and  found  "  they  were 
brought  to  an  agreement  while  I  had  been  praying,  as  with 
a  broken  heart,  in  the  house  we  went  to  lodge  at ;  and 
Ikothers  Walters  and  Garrettson  had  been  praying  up- 
stairs where  the  conference  sat."  Well  did  Asbury  con- 
clude that  "  the  hand  of  God  has  been  greatly  seen  in  all 
this,"  and  adds:  "There  might  have  been  twenty  promis- 
ing preachers  and  three  thousand  people  seriously  affected 
by  this  separation."  ^ 

The  Conference  of  i  781  began  at  Choptank,  in  the  State 
of  Delaware,  April  i6th,  and  adjourned  to  Baltimore  on  the 
24th  of  the  same  month.  Here  thirty-nine  of  the  preachers 
agreed  to  "  preach  the  old  Methodist  doctrine,  and  strictly 
enforce  the  discipline,  as  contained  in  the  '  Notes,'  '  Ser- 
mons,' and  '  Minutes'  published  by  Mr.  Wesley,  so  far  as 
they  respect  both  preachers  and  people,  .  .  .  and  to  dis- 
countenance a  separation  among  either." 

This  conference  began  to  talk  about  precedents,  and 
asked  about  meeting  at  Choptank  before  going  to  Balti- 
more, to  examine  those  who  could  not  go  to  the  latter 
place,  and  to  provide  supplies  for  circuits  where  the  Lord 
is  more  immediately  pouring  out  his  Spirit.  "  Is  there 
any  precedent  for  this  in  the  economy  of  Methodism?" 
To  which  the  recorded  answer  is:  "Yes;  Mr.  Wesley 
generally  holds  a  conference  in  Ireland  for  the  same 
purposes." 

The  rules  passed  were  that  no  assistant  should  take  a 
local  preacher  to  travel  in  a  circuit  in  the  intervals  of  con- 
ference without  consulting  Asbury  or  the  assistant  near 
him ;  that  no  one,  without  similar  consultation,  should 
restore  preaching  to  a  house  whence  it  was  removed  by 
his  predecessor ;  that  those  applying  to  be  recei\'ed  upon 

1  "  Asbury's  Journal,"  vol.  i.,  p.  367. 


RAPID   INCREASE  IN  MEMBERS.  189 

probation  should  be  examined  by  the  preachers ;  the  first 
question  to  be  asked  being-  "  whether  they  had  been  turned 
out " — shows  that  many  had  been  expelled. 

The  greatest  revival  of  religion  had  been  on  the  south- 
ern shore  of  Maryland  and  in  some  parts  of  Delaware.  A 
large  increase  had  been  made  in  New  Jersey  and  Penn- 
sylvania, in  fact  throughout  the  entire  connection,  the 
sum  of  the  members  being  10,539,  a  gain  of  2035,  and 
the  number  of  preachers  54,  a  gain  of  12.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Jarratt  attended  the  conference,  delivered  several  dis- 
courses, gave  the  preachers  the  benefit  of  his  counsel,  and 
administered  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  proba- 
tionary system  was  introduced,  whereby  candidates  for  re- 
ception into  the  society  were  tested  and  instructed  for  three 
months,  and  a  rule  was  formed  for  settling  financial  dis- 
putes among  the  members. 

Many  of  the  members  were  drafted  during  that  year, 
and  when  the  militia  were  called  out  entered  the  army. 
The  effects  are  sententiously  described  by  Jesse  Lee,  who 
had  personal  knowledge  of  them:^  "  Some  of  them  lost 
their  lives,  and  some  made  shipwreck  of  the  faith,  and  but 
few  returned  home  with  as  much  religion  as  they  formerly 
possessed.  Some  of  the  Methodists  were  bound  under 
conscience  not  to  fight,  and  no  threatenings  could  compel 
them  to  bear  arms  or  hire  a  man  to  take  their  places.  In 
consequence  of  this,  some  of  them  were  wJiipped,  some 
were  fined,  and  some  imprisoned  ;  others  were  sent  home, 
and  many  were  much  persecuted." 

Numerous  battles  were  fought  in  Virginia,  and  the  gen- 
eral alarm  often  prevented  the  people  from  assembling ;  and 
when  they  met  the  conversation  was  principally  upon  the 
times  and  their  disturbances.  Before  a  meeting  commenced 
the  inquiry  would  be,  "What  is  the  news  of  the  day?" 
1  Lee's  "  History  of  the  Methodists,"  p.  77. 


I90  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  vii. 

and  this  subject  was  resumed  as  soon  as  the  exercises 
closed.  One  would  say,  "My  son  is  killed;"  another, 
"  My  husband  is  wounded,"  or  "  taken  a  prisoner,"  or 
"  sick  and  likely  to  die."  There  being  no  papers  or  mails, 
all  such  information  had  to  be  gi\'en  in  conversation. 

Notwithstanding  this,  in  some  parts  of  Virginia  there 
were  extensive  revivals.  Toward  the  close  of  the  year  the 
capture  of  Lord  Cornwallis  and  his  British  army  at  York- 
town  inspired  hope  that  the  war  would  soon  end. 

The  tenth  Annual  Conference  was  held  at  Ellis's  Preach- 
ing-house in  Sussex  County,  Virginia,  April  17,  1782, 
and  adjourned  to  Baltimore  May  21st.  It  had  become 
necessary  to  have  two  conferences,  one  in  the  South  and 
another  in  the  North,  the  latter  being  of  longer  standing 
and  composed  of  the  older  preachers  ;  therefore,  says  Lee,i 
"  it  was  allowed  greater  privileges  than  that  in  the  South, 
especially  in  making  rules  and  forming  regulations  for  the 
societies.  Accordingly,  when  anything  was  agreed  to  in 
the  Virginia  Conference  and  afterward  disapproved  of  in 
the  Baltimore  Conference,  it  was  dropped  ;  but  if  any  rule 
was  fixed  and  determined  on  at  the  latter,  the  preachers  in 
the  South  were  under  the  necessity  of  abiding  by  it." 

It  was  determined  at  the  Conference  of  1782  to -have 
two  conferences  in  each  year,  and,  to  guard  against  dis- 
orderly preachers,  a  certificate  was  given  to  each  contain- 
ing the  proviso  that  "  the  authority  which  this  gives  is 
limited  to  the  next  conference."  A  similar  caution  was 
attached  to  the  certificates  of  local  preachers.  It  was  also 
decided  that  no  member  should  move  to  another  part 
of  the  country  without  a  certificate  from  the  assistant 
preacher. 

Relatively  to  the  future  of  Methodism  the  most  impor- 
tant question  was  this:  "Do  the  brethren   in  conference 
1  Lee's  "  History  of  the  Metlioilists,"  p.  78. 


NATIONAL  JUBILATION.  I9I 

unanimously  choose  Brother  Asbury  to  act  according  to 
Mr.  Wesley's  original  appointment  and  preside  over  the 
American  conference  and  the  whole  work? 

'' Ans.  Yes." 

Times  of  meeting  of  the  next  year  were  fixed,  and  a 
special  resolution  was  passed  of  acknowledgment  to  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Jarratt  for  his  kind  and  friendly  services  to  the 
preachers  and  people  from  the  first  entrance  of  the  Meth- 
odists into  Virginia;  and  the  preachers  in  the  South  were 
advised  to  consult  him  in  the  absence  of  Brother  Asbury 
and  follow  his  advice.  Arrangements  were  made  for  every 
assistant  preacher  or  one  of  his  helpers  to  travel  with 
Asbury  through  his  circuit.  There  were  now  11,785 
members,  exclusive  of  the  unreported  number  in  New 
York. 

Pursuant  to  the  previous  appointment,  the  eleventh 
Annual  Conference  assembled  on  the  6th  of  May,  1783,  at 
Ellis's  Preaching-house,  and  subsequently  adjourned  to 
Baltimore.  There  had  been  an  increase  of  23  in  the  num- 
ber of  ministers  and  1955  members.  Fourteen  ministers 
were  received  on  trial,  among  them  Jesse  Lee,  forever  after- 
ward to  be  famous  in  Methodism. 

A  rule  was  passed  extending  to  local  preachers  who  held 
slaves  contrary  to  laws  which  authorize  their  freedom  in 
any  of  the  United  States. 

For  the  first  time  the  phrase  "  United  States  "  appears  in 
the  minutes;  for  in  April,  1783,  Congress  issued  a  procla- 
mation declaring  the  cessation  of  arms  on  land  and  sea, 
and  enjoined  its  observance. 

While  the  conference  was  in  session  in  Baltimore,  the 
whole  country  was  infused  with  the  spirit  of  jubilation ; 
and,  instead  of  providing  for  four  fast-days,  as  had  been 
done  for  some  years,  an  inspiring  question  was  answered : 
"  How  many  days  of  thanksgiving  shall  we  have  for  our 


192  THE  METHODISTS.  \i:\\.w.  \ij. 

public  peace,  temporal  and  spiritual  prosperity,  and  for  the 
glorious  work  of  God  ? 

"  Ans.  The  first  Thursdays  in  July  and  October." 

Two  fast-days  also  were  provided — the  first  Fridays  in 
January  and  April. 

Nearly  all  the  Methodist  preachers  were  unmarried,  and 
no  direct  provision  had  been  made  for  the  support  of  fam- 
ilies. But  now  the  question  appears  :  "  How  many  preach- 
ers' wives  are  to  be  provided  for?"  and  the  names  of 
eleven  are  given,  and  the  amount  of  money  necessary 
assessed  upon  the  different  circuits,  the  sum  appropriated 
being  two  hundred  and  sixty  pounds  sterling. 

There  was  an  important  question  relating  to  temperance  : 
"  Should  our  converts  be  permitted  to  make  spirituous 
liquors,  sell  and  drink  them  in  drams? 

"  Ans.  By  no  means;  we  think  it  wrong  in  its  nature 
and  consequences,  and  desire  all  our  preachers  to  teach 
the  people  by  precept  and  example  to  put  away  this  evil." 

Asbury,  on  receiving  the  news  of  peace,  wrote  in  his 
"  Journal  "  :  "I  had  various  exercises  of  mind  on  the  occa- 
sion :  it  may  cause  great  changes  to  take  place  amongst 
us ;  some  for  the  better,  and  some  for  the  worse.  It  may 
make  against  the  work  of  God;  our  preachers  will  be  far 
more  likely  to  settle  in  the  world,  and  our  people,  by  getting 
into  trade  and  acquiring  wealth,  may  drink  into  its  spirit." 

While  no  statistics  are  reported  from  New  York,  the 
name  of  that  city  as  well  as  Norfolk,  Va.,  reappears  in 
the  minutes,  Samuel  Spraggs  and  John  Dickins  being  sta- 
tioned at  New  York.  The  former  was  admitted  on  trial 
at  the  second  conference,  May  25,  1774;  in  1778  his  name 
disappears  from  the  minutes,  and  does  not  reappear  until 
I  783.  For  fiive  consecutive  years  he  was  acting  as  pastor 
in  New  York.  We  are  indebted  for  conclusive  proof  on 
this  point  to  the  researches  of  Dr.  J.  B.  Wakeley,  who 
learned  by  the  old  book  of  John  Street  Church  that  Mr. 


METHODISM  IN  NEW   YORK  CITY.  193 

Spraggs  was  the  preacher.  The  entries  as  given  from  Feb- 
ruary 26,  1779,  reveal  Revolutionary  prices.  The  wood 
allowed  him  in  1 782  for  the  single  room  which  he  occupied 
cost  £21  13s.  6d.  sterling.  His  salary  was  ;^I37  a  year, 
and  was  paid  regularly  from  May,  1778,  to  June  10,  1783, 
during  the  whole  of  which  time  the  city  of  New  York  was 
under  British  martial  law.  When  the  British  arrived, 
Daniel  Ruff,  the  pastor,  left  the  city,  and  John  Mann 
preached  gratuitously  until  Samuel  Spraggs  came.  In 
I  783,  when  Mr.  Spraggs  and  Mr.  Dickins  were  appointed, 
the  trustees  settled  finally  with  the  former,  having  paid 
him  $1302.50,  which,  according  to  the  book,  was  raised 
by  public  and  class  collections. 

Wakeley  accounts  for  the  size  of  the  collections  by  stating 
that  most  of  the  churches  were  converted  into  barracks,  while 
the  services  were  regularly  held  in  Wesley  Chapel.  The 
congregations  must  have  been  very  large,  British  officers  as 
well  as  soldiers  attending.  The  preacher  was  paid  a  larger 
salary  than  the  people  were  able  to  pay  before  the  war  or 
after  peace  was  proclaimed.  The  old  book  also  gives  an 
account  of  the  money  raised  through  the  class  collections 
as  distinguished  from  that  raised  in  the  public  collections, 
and  this  was  so  large  as  to  show  that  the  classes  must 
have  been  well  attended.  Furthermore,  in  the  expendi- 
tures evidence  appears  that  the  preacher's  house  was  kept 
in  order,  the  sexton's  salary  paid,  and  money  appropriated 
for  love-feasts  and  other  peculiarities  of  Methodism. 

Shortly  after  John  Dickins  arrived,  Samuel  Spraggs 
withdrew  from  the  Methodists  and  joined  the  Church  of 
England,  becoming  pastor  of  the  ancient  church  in  Eliza- 
beth, N.  Y.  There  he  died,  and  "  in  that  venerable  church 
is  a  tablet  erected  to  his  memory."  ^ 

Notwithstanding  the  large  attendance,  the  membership 

1  "  Lost  Chapters  Recovered  from  the  Early  History  of  American  Metho- 
dism," by  J.  B.  Wakeley,  D.D.,  chaps,  xxix.,  xxx. 


194  ^'■^^^'   ^^I^'J'JJODISTS.  [CiiAi-.  VII. 

had  declined  from  200  to  60.  Concerning  Mr.  Dickins, 
Mr.  Asbury  records,  April  5th:  "This  day  I  prevailed 
with  Brother  Dickins  to  go  to  New  York,  where  I  expect 
him  to  be  far  more  useful  than  in  his  present  station." 

Already  persons  claiming  to  be  Methodists,  and  asking 
to  be  recognized  as  preachers,  began  to  come  from  Europe, 
so  that  the  Conference  of  1783  found  it  necessary  to  pro- 
tect itself,  and  did  so  under  Question  12  :  "  How  shall  we 
conduct  ourselves  toward  any  European  Methodists,  should 
they  come  to  this  continent? 

"  Ans.  We  will  not  receive  them  without  a  letter  of 
recommendation  which  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt  the 
truth  of." 

When  the  Conference  of  1783  adjourned,  Asbury  re- 
sumed his  travels.  Very  extraordinary  opportunities 
opened  before  the  preachers. 

Certain  modern  writers  upon  Methodism  have  spoken 
slightingly  of  Jesse  Lee's  history,  but  without  just  cause. 
Considering  the  time  when  it  was  written,  the  peculiar 
character  of  the  movement,  the  disturbed  condition  of 
the  country  during  the  greater  part  of  the  time  com- 
prehended in  the  history,  and  that  Lee  was  first  in  the 
field,  his  history  is  worthy  the  name  of  a  multum-in-parvo, 
containing  many  passages  admirable  in  their  freshness, 
clearness,  and  condensation,  and  made  interesting  by  a 
quaintness  of  expression  peculiar  to  the  writer,  and  true  to 
the  genius  of  Methodism  by  the  devout  spirit  everywhere 
exhibited  and  the  topographical  element  frequently  intro- 
duced. 

The  following  account  of  the  wonderful  opportunities 
offered  the  preachers  after  the  close  of  the  Conference  of 
1783  is  a  fair  illustration  of  the  condensation  and  simplic- 
ity of  his  style : 

"  The  Revolutionary  War  being  now  closed,  and  a  gen- 


NEW  OPPORTUNITIES.  1 95 

eral  peace  established,  we  could  go  into  all  parts  of  the 
country  without  fear;  and  we  soon  began  to  enlarge  our 
borders,  and  to  preach  in  many  places  where  we  had  not 
been  before.  We  soon  saw  the  fruit  of  our  labors  in  the 
new  circuits  and  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  even  in 
old  places  where  we  had  preached  in  former  years  with 
but  little  success. 

"  One  thing  in  particular  that  opened  the  way  for  the 
spreading  of  the  gospel  by  our  preachers  was  this :  during 
the  war,  which  had  continued  seven  or  eight  years,  many 
of  the  members  of  our  societies  had,  through  fear,  neces- 
sity, or  choice,  moved  into  the  back  settlements  and  into 
new  parts  of  the  country ;  and  as  soon  as  the  national 
peace  was  settled,  and  the  way  was  open,  they  solicited  us 
to  come  among  them ;  and  by  their  earnest  and  frequent 
petitions,  both  verbal  and  written,  we  were  prevailed  on 
and  encouraged  to  go  among  them ;  and  they  were  ready 
to  receive  us  with  open  hands  and  willing  hearts,  and  to  cry 
out,  '  Blessed  is  he  that  comet Ji  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.'  "  ^ 

The  conference  which  began  at  Ellis's  Preaching-house 
in  Virginia,  April  30,  1784,  and  ended  at  Baltimore,  May 
28th,  showed  a  wide  distribution  of  the  work  and  an  in- 
crease of  1248  in  the  number  of  members.  A  rule  was 
made  determining  who  should  attend  the  conferences — the 
assistants  and  those  to  be  received  into  full  connection. 
Previously  notice  had  been  given  by  Asbury  and  leading 
assistants  to  individuals  orally  or  by  correspondence.  The 
greater  strictness  in  administration  concerning  preachers 
must  account  for  the  slight  increase  (i)  in  the  number. 
Twelve  preachers  were  admitted  on  trial  and  four  had 
desisted  from  traveling.  A  question  was  introdaced,  ever 
since  repeated,  and  regarded  as  of  great  importance : 
"What  preachers  have  died  this  year?"     The  names  of 

1  Lee's  "  History  of  the  Methodists,"  pp.  84,  85. 


196  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  vii. 

two,  Henry  Metcalf  and  William  Wright,  are  recorded,  but 
no  reference  is  made  to  their  characters.  Seven  new  cir- 
cuits were  recorded — four  in  Virginia  and  three  in  North 
Juniata,  Trenton,  and  Long  Island.  Many  of  the  new 
societies  were  adapted  to  serve  as  nuclei  of  large  churches. 
Wesley  had  sent  a  letter  in  October,  1783,  which  pro- 
duced a  profound  impression  on  the  connection. 

"  Bristol,  October  3,  1783. 

"  I.  Let  all  of  you  be  determined  to  abide  by  the  Meth- 
odist doctrine  and  discipline,  published  in  the  four  volumes 
of  '  Sermons,'  and  the  '  Notes  upon  the  New  Testament,' 
together  with  the  large  *  Minutes  of  Conference.' 

"  2.  Beware  of  preachers  coming  from  Great  Britain  or 
Ireland  without  a  full  recommendation  from  me.  Three 
of  our  traveling  preachers  here  eagerly  desired  to  go  to 
America;  but  I  could  not  approve  of  it  by  any  means, 
because  I  am  not  satisfied  that  they  thoroughly  like  either 
our  discipline  or  our  doctrine;  I  think  they  differ  from 
our  judgment  in  one  or  both.  Therefore,  if  these  or  any 
others  come  without  my  recommendation,  take  care  how 
you  receive  them. 

"  3.  Neither  should  you  receive  any  preachers,  however 
recommended,  who  will  not  be  subject  to  the  American 
conference  and  cheerfully  conform  to  the  minutes  both  of 
the  American  and  English  conferences. 

"  4.  I  do  not  wish  our  American  brethren  to  receive  any 
who  make  any  difficulty  on  receiving  Francis  Asbury  as 
the  General  Assistant. 

"  Undoubtedly  the  greatest  danger  to  the  work  of  God 
in  America  is  likely  to  arise  either  from  preachers  coming 
from  Europe,  or  from  such  as  will  arise  from  among  your- 
selves, speaking  perverse  things,  or  bringing  in  among  you 
new  doctrines,  particularly  Calvinian.     You  should  guard 


STRINGENT  RULES  AGAINST  SLAVERY.  197 

against  this  with  all   possible  care,  for  it  is  far  easier  to 
keep  them  out  than  to  thrust  them  out. 

"  I  commend  you  all  to  the  grace  of  God,  and  am 
"  Your  affectionate  friend  and  brother, 

"John  Wesley."  ^ 

A  rule  was  enacted  embodying  the  principles  stated  in 
the  foregoing  letter. 

To  erect  new  chapels  and  pay  debts  a  yearly  subscription 
was  to  be  made  all  through  the  circuits,  and  the  preachers 
were  instructed  to  "  insist  upon  every  member  that  is  not 
supported  by  charity  to  give  something."  Preachers  were 
warned  to  avoid  superfluity  in  dress  themselves,  and  speak 
frequently  and  faithfully  against  it.  Converts  who  buy 
and  sell  slaves  are  to  be  expelled,  if  they  buy  with  no 
other  design  than  to  hold  them  as  slaves,  if  they  have  been 
previously  warned.  On  no  consideration  should  they 
be  permitted  to  sell.  Local  preachers  who,  in  the  States 
where  the  laws  permit  it,  will  not  emancipate  their  slaves, 
are  to  be  borne  with  in  Virginia  another  year,  but  sus- 
pended in  Maryland,  Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  and  New 
Jersey.  Singing  was  to  be  reformed  by  the  "  preachers 
who  had  any  knowledge  in  the  notes  improving  it,  learning 
to  sing  true  themselves  and  keeping  close  to  Mr.  Wesley's 
tunes  and  hymns." 

The  stern  attitude  of  the  conference  toward  traveling 
preachers  on  the  subject  of  slavery  is  revealed  by  Ques- 
tion 22  :  "  What  shall  be  done  with  our  traveling  preachers 
who  now  are,  or  hereafter  shall  be,  possessed  of  slaves, 
and  refuse  to  emancipate  them  where  the  law  permits? 

" A/is.  Employ  them  no  more." 

Three  conferences  were  appointed  for  the  next  year. 
Prior   to    1784   the    minutes   had    been    taken   but  were 

1  Bangs's  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  148,  149. 


198  THE  JMETIIODISTS.  [Chai-.  \  11. 

kept  in  manuscript,  not  being  printed  until  1 795  ;  but 
after  1784  the  minutes  were   annually  published. 

Thomas  Ware  was  present  at  this  conference,  and  many 
years  later  wrote  ■}  "It  was  the  first  I  attended.  There  was 
quite  a  number  of  preachers  present.  Although  there  were 
but  few  on  whose  heads  time  had  begun  to  snow,  yet  several 
of  them  appeared  to  be  wayworn  and  weather-beaten  into 
premature  old  age.  ...  I  doubt  whether  there  has  ever 
been  a  conference  among  us  in  which  an  equal  number 
could  be  found  in  proportion  to  the  whole  so  dead  to  the 
world  and  so  gifted  and  enterprising  as  were  present  at 
that  of  1784." 

The  distribution  of  the  members,  compared  with  the 
subsequent  growth  of  the  denomination,  was  peculiar. 
The  whole  number  of  members  reported  was  14,988;  of 
these  about  eleven  percent,  were  north  of  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line  and  eighty-nine  percent,  south  of  it. 

At  this  conference,  with  the  wisdom  which  characterized 
Francis  Asbury's  appointments,  the  thirty-seven  assistants 
were  stationed  at  strategic  points.  Endowed  by  nature  with 
a  broad  and  comprehensive  mind,  he  was  able  to  consider  a 
movement,  a  position,  or  a  man  with  reference  not  only  to 
local  and  transient,  but  to  permanent  and  general,  relations. 

The  Juniata  circuit  appears  in  the  minutes.  It  covered 
a  large  region  in  the  Tuscarora  Mountains.  Methodists 
had  been  scattered  through  that  country  from  the  earliest 
times.  A  local  preacher  named  Crider  had  settled  near 
the  present  town  of  Huntington,  and  founded  a  society. 
Robert  Pennington  had  migrated  from  Delaware  and 
settled  in  Center  County,  where  he  built  a  log  chapel 
among  the  mountains,  known  seventy-five  years  afterward 
as  "  Father  Pennington's  Church."  "- 

1  "  Sketches  of  Life  and  Travels  of  Thomas  Ware." 

2  Stevens's  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church." 


ASBURY'S   OPPONENTS  SILENCED  BY   WESLEY.      1 99 

Wilson  Lee,  who  joined  the  conference  in  1784,  was 
sent  to  the  Alleghany  circuit,  situated  among  the  moun- 
tains of  that  name ;  its  limits  were  not  fixed,  and  during 
the  year  1784  he  crossed  and  recrossed  those  lofty  ranges 
many  times. 

William  Glendenning,  one  of  the  preachers,  had  been 
devising  a  plan  to  lay  Asbury  aside,  or  at  least  to  abridge 
his  powers.  Asbury  records  this  fact,  and  also  that  "  Mr. 
Wesley's  letter  settled  the  point,  and  all  was  happy."  ^ 

As  soon  as  the  conference  adjourned  Asbury,  as  usual, 
began  his  travels.  On  the  first  day  of  July  he  began  to 
ascend  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  following  the  route  that 
Braddock  took.  The  population  was  sparse,  and  on  halting 
for  the  night  he  was  obliged  to  occupy  a  bed  with  two 
other  persons.  He  averaged  thirty  miles  a  day,  preaching  as 
he  went.  After  traversing  that  region  he  turned  toward 
Philadelphia,  reaching  the  quarterly  meeting  on  the  21st 
of  July,  still  preaching  almost  daily.  On  Sunday,  the 
15  th  of  August,  he  was  so  weak  as  to  have  to  lie  down 
the  greater  part  of  the  day  on  the  floor,  but  arose  at  the 
appointed  time  and  preached  to  a  thousand  persons ;  rode 
the  next  day  twenty  miles  to  Burlington,  and  the  next  to 
Trenton,  delivering  sermons  at  both  places. 

Visiting  the  city  of  New  York,  he  was  much  pleased, 
and  records  what  he  saw  with  unusual  enthusiasm :  "  At 
New  York  we  found  the  people  alive  to  God ;  there  are 
about  one  hundred  in  society,  and,  with  those  in  Phila- 
delphia, to  my  mind  appear  more  like  Methodists  than  I 
have  ever  yet  seen  them."  This  improvement  was  to  be 
traced  chiefly  to  the  ability,  system,  and  fidehty  of  John 
Dickins. 

The  strength  of  the  convictions  produced  by  the  early 
Methodists,  and  their  absorption  in  their  work,  cannot  be 

1  "  Asbury's  Journal,"  vol.  i.,  p.  473. 


200  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  vii. 

better  illustrated  than  by  an  entry  made  by  Asbury  during 
this  tour  in  Maryland  :  "  Here  B.  T.,  who  was  a  great  church- 
man, after  hearing  Freeborn  Garrettson  a  second  time,  was 
seized  with  conviction  on  his  way  home,  and  fell  down  in  the 
road,  and  spent  a  great  part  of  the  night  crying  to  God  for 
mercy.  It  was  suggested  to  him  that  his  house  was  on 
fire.  His  answer  was,  '  It  is  better  for  me  to  lose  my 
house  than  my  soul.'  " 

Having  crossed  into  Virginia,  Asbury  in  five  succeeding 
days  rode  one  hundred  miles,  spent  five  hours  in  public 
discourses  and  ten  in  family  and  public  prayer,  and  read 
two  hundred  pages  in  Young's  works.  On  Sunday,  the 
7th,  he  rode  twelve  miles  to  Snow  Hill,  Md.,  where  the 
judge  himself  opened  the  court-house,  and  a  large  con- 
gregation of  different  denominations  attended.  Asbury's 
theme  was  "  The  Certainty,  Universality,  and  Justice  of 
God's  Proceedings  at  the  Day  of  Judgment."  After  seven 
days  more  of  travel  he  reached  Barrett's  Chapel. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

BLENDED    ROMANCE    AND    REALITY. 

Methodism  had  now  for  eighteen  years  run  Hke  a  fire 
to  and  fro  in  this  continent,  here  through  dry  stubble, 
there  almost  quenched  in  swamps  and  along  watercourses, 
again  kindled  at  distant  points  by  wind-blown  sparks, 
until  the  land  was  dotted  with  societies,  none  of  which 
dared  to  call  themselves  churches,  and  whose  members 
were  without  the  sacraments  except  as  they  received  them 
from  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England,  who  in  many 
instances  regarded  them  with  indifference  or  contempt. 
Eighty-three  called  themselves  preachers ;  none  dared  to 
style  himself  a  minister.  The  term  "  pastor  "  was  not  in  use 
among  Methodists,  nor  were  those  now  familiar  words 
"  deacon  "  and  "  elder  "  heard  except  in  ecclesiastical  con- 
troversies. A  large  proportion  of  the  members  had  not 
been  baptized. 

The  doctrines  which  these  men  preached  were  the  same 
that  those  who  had  brought  Methodism  to  this  country 
had  heard  from  Wesley  and  the  few  clergymen  who  sympa- 
thized with  him,  and  his  lay  helpers ;  the  experience  to 
which  they  testified  was  the  direct  result  of  a  firm  belief 
in  these  doctrines ;  the  spirit  they  manifested  was  the 
compound  result  of  their  belief  in  certain  principles, 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  produced  his  special  fruits, 
which  reflection  and  mere  belief  cannot  originate  or  sus- 

20 1 


202  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  viii. 

tain :  "  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  good- 
ness, faith,  meekness,  temperance." 

Methodists,  lay  and  clerical,  who  had  experienced  what 
they  professed  hated  evil  and  loved  good  with  the  same 
intensity  ;  hence  they  were  equally  powerful  in  preaching 
against  sin,  guiding  those  who  "would  see  Jesus,"  and 
quickening  and  edifying  believers. 

In  endeavoring  to  understand  the  method  and  spirit  of 
Methodism  and  their  effects,  we  may  follow  one  of 
these  as  he  goes  forth  from  a  conference  to  his  "  appoint- 
ment." He  is  without  money  or  friends,  and  does  not 
expect  to  find  either  church,  society,  choir,  or  salary,  but 
has  been  told  that  at  a  certain  point  seventy-five  miles  on 

the  way  Brother  B lives.      After  journeying  until  his 

horse  and  himself  are  weary  and  famished,  he  asks  a  mild- 
mannered  man,  whose  house  is  by  the  roadside,  where  he 
attends  church,  and  is  met  with  cordiality  and  invited  to 
share  the  frugal  meal  of  the  family.  Seated  at  the  table, 
having  made  his  calling  known,  he  may  be  asked  to  invoke 
the  divine  blessing ;  if  so,  he  does  it  with  an  unction  never 
before  heard  by  his  host,  using  an  ordinary  meal  as  a 
symbol  of  the  bread  that  cometh  down  from  above.  If 
not  asked  he  volunteers,  and  even  greater  fervor  may 
characterize  him  under  these  circumstances.  The  dinner 
over,  he  begins  to  .speak  individually  to  the  family  on  the 
subject  of  their  souls'  salvation.  Some  listen  from  mere 
curiosity ;  perhaps  only  one  shows  genuine  interest ;  but 
he  seeks  an  opportunity  to  pray,  and  before  the  prayer  is 
ended  all  feel  that  a  strange,  even  an  awful,  visitor  has 
come  among  them. 

Imagination  predominates  in  new  coinitries.  Intelli- 
gence from  the  outer  world  seldom  reaches  the  people ; 
sermons  are  few  and  far  between,  often  dull  and  sometimes 
frivolous.     But  here  is  a  man  who  affirms  what  he  knows, 


THE    TYPICAL  ITINERANT.  203 

and  feels  as  one  might  be  expected  to  feel  if  what  he 
preaches  is  true.  He  sings  a  hymn  which  expresses  the 
feelings  of  the  one  or  more  affected  by  the  truth,  and  as 
the  plaintive  strain  rises  on  the  air  those  who  have  any  appre- 
ciation of  music  gather  about ;  some  that  were  disposed  to 
ridicule  him  are  impressed,  and  the  children  are  fascinated. 

If  these  results  follow  he  is  asked  to  come  again.  Such 
may  be  the  influence  of  his  words  and  songs  that  the  host 
offers  the  use  of  his  house  for  a  service  ;  the  neighbors  are 
notified,  and  it  would  be  strange  if  two  or  three  were  not 
convicted  and  converted  that  very  night.  These  are  at 
once  formed  into  a  class,  the  most  intelligent  invested  with 
the  responsibility  of  leadership,  and  instructions  given  him. 

He  inquires  the  way  to  the  residence  of  the  brother  to 
whom  he  is  to  report.  His  host  replies  that  he  has  heard 
of  him,  that  he  is  a  good  man,  who  has  peculiar  ideas  of 
religion  and  will  not  have  any  profane  swearers  about  his 
farm,  which  is  thirty  miles  distant.  Whereupon  the 
preacher  informs  him  that  the  views  which  he  has  been 
teaching  there  are  those  held  by  Brother  B . 

Counting  B 's  house  the  center  and  this  the  circum- 
ference of  his  circuit,  the  preacher  is  filled  with  joy.  His 
cordial  reception  he  accepts  as  a  seal  to  his  ministry.  God 
is  with  him.  Had  he,  however,  been  driven  away,  had  he 
been  beaten  with  many  stripes,  he  would  have  been 
equally  convinced  that  God  was  with  him,  and  would  have 
proceeded  on  his  pilgrimage  singing  and  giving  thanks 
that  he  was  permitted  to  partake  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ, 
and  a  score  of  times  before  his  weary  body  found  rest  that 
night  he  would  repeat  to  himself,  "  Blessed  are  ye  when 
men  shall  revile  you,  and  persecute  you,  and  shall  say  all 
manner  of  evil  against  you  falsely,  for  my  sake." 

When  he  arrives  at  Brother  B 's  the  people  are  as- 
sembled, the  preacher  welcomed,  and  his  opening  discourse 


204  J'lH-   MEJJIODISTS.  [Chap.  viii. 

on  some  such  passage  as  "  I  seek  not  yours,  but  you,''  is 
followed  by  a  stirring  account  of  the  grace  of  God,  which 
was  magnified  the  night  before,  when  he,  a  weary,  lonely 
stranger,  who  had  to  say  to  the  people  as  Peter  said  to 
the  lame  beggar,  "  Silver  and  gold  have  I  none ;  but  such 
as  I  have  give  I  thee,"  was  permitted  to  unfold  to  their 
astonished  gaze  the  pearl  of  great  price. 

Such  joyful  news  quickens  the  faith  and  enlarges  the 
hope  of  every  one  present.  He  has  also  a  message  for 
those  who  have  been  attracted  by  curiosity.  "  Behold," 
he  exclaims,  "  the  Lamb  of  God,  that  taketh  away  the  sin 
of  the  world!"  But  if  there  be  a  single  scoffer  he  may 
exclaim,  "  Behold,  ye  despisers,  and  wonder,  and  perish : 
for  I  work  a  work  in  your  days,  a  work  which  ye  shall  in 
no  wise  believe,  though  a  man  declare  it  unto  you." 

In  less  than  four  weeks  in  his  circuit  of  sixty  miles  in 
diameter  he  has  preached  fifty  sermons,  formed  ten  classes, 
made  hundreds  of  visits,  and  erected  family  altars  in  more 
than  fifty  houses.  He  writes  to  the  nearest  assistant,  giv- 
ing an  account  of  the  wonderful  work  of  God  and  asking 
for  a  visit. 

It  is  remarkable  that  among  the  twelve  apostles  of  our 
Lord  there  was  no  similarity,  except  that  of  a  common 
human  nature ;  and  at  least  as  many  as  twelve  distinct 
types  can  be  traced  among  the  eighty-three  preachers  who 
had  assembled  in  the  Conference  of  1784.  Four  of  these 
are  worthy  of  special  characterization. 

Benjamin  Abbott  was  born  in  New  Jersey.  In  his  boy- 
hood he  was  apprenticed  in  Philadelphia,  but  immedi- 
ately fell  into  bad  company,  indulging  in  card-playing, 
cock-fighting,  and  other  evil  habits,  so  that  his  master  and 
he  separated  before  his  time  had  expired.  He  then  went 
to  New  Jersey  and  worked  on  a  farm  owned  by  one  of  his 
brothers.      He  married,  and,  receiving  a  small  amount  of 


BENJAMIN  ABBOTT.  205 

money  from  his  father's  estate,  rented  a  farm,  which  he 
cultivated.  He  worked  hard  and  earned  a  comfortable 
support,  but  lived  in  open  rebellion  against  God,  drinking, 
fighting,  swearing,  and  gambling. 

He  continued  in  a  life  of  sin,  though  often,  in  meetings 
which  he  attended,  alarmed  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  until  the 
fortieth  year  of  his  life.  His  wife  was  a  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  in  the  habit  of  prayer.  He  re- 
spected her  highly,  but  she  did  not  profess  to  have  any 
internal  religious  experience.  Abbott  subsequently  said 
that  till  he  met  the  Methodists  he  "  had  never  heard 
either  a  man  or  a  woman  say  that  they  had  a  pardon- 
ing love  of  God  in  their  souls,  or  knew  their  sins  were 
forgiven." 

Like  Joseph,  Abbott  was  a  dreamer,  and  frequently  had 
visions  in  which  he  saw  himself  dead  and  doomed.  For 
a  while  he  would  reform,  but  his  impressions  would  wear 
off  and  he  would  return  to  his  former  practices. 

Reports  of  a  Methodist  preacher's  expected  coming  to 
the  town  attracted  his  attention ;  he  went  to  hear  him, 
and  was  deeply  convicted  of  sin.  Abbott's  own  words 
concerning  this  event  are  graphic : 

"  But  I  knew  not  the  way  to  Christ  for  refuge,  being 
ignorant  of  the  nature  both  of  conviction  and  conversion. 
But,  blessed  be  God,  he  still  gave  me  light,  so  that  the 
work  was  deepened  in  my  soul  day  by  day.  The  preacher 
came  to  preach  in  our  neighborhood,  and  I  went  to  hear 
him  again  ;  it  being  a  new  thing  in  the  place  brought  many 
together  to  hear  him.  Some  were  Presbyterians,  some 
Baptists,  and  others  without  any  professions  of  religion. 
He  took  his  text  and  preached  with  power;  the  Word 
reached  my  heart  in  such  a  powerful  manner  that  it  shook 
every  joint  in  my  body ;  tears  flowed  in  abundance,  and 
I  cried  out  for  mercy,  of  which  the  people  took  notice, 


2o6  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai'.  via. 

and  many  others  were  melted  into  tears.  When  the  ser- 
mon was  over  the  people  flocked  around  the  preacher  and 
began  to  dispute  with  him  about  principles  of  religion. 
I  said  that  there  never  was  such  preaching  as  this,  but  the 
people  said,  '  Abbott  is  going  mad.'  "  ^ 

Thoughts  of  suicide  often  came  to  him.  At  night  in  a 
lonely  wood  he  determined  upon  the  act,  but  while  search- 
ing for  a  suitable  place  he  was  deterred  by  an  inward 
voice,  which  said,  "  This  torment  is  nothing  compared  to 
hell."  He  drove  home  in  greatest  anxiety,  imagining  the 
tempter  directly  behind  him.  While  listening  to  a  Meth- 
odist preacher  he  became  excited  and  cried,  "  Save,  Lord, 
or  I  perish!"  Then  shame  overcame  him,  and  he  felt 
that  his  neighbors  despised  him.  At  the  close,  however, 
he  would  have  spoken  to  the  preacher,  but  the  latter  was 
surrounded  by  a  crowd  disputing  points  of  doctrine.  That 
evening  he  established  family  prayer,  greatly  pleasing  his 
wife.  The  next  day  he  drove  twelve  miles  to  a  Methodist 
meeting,  and  asked  the  preacher  to  baptize  him,  hoping 
this  would  banish  his  distress,  for  he  had  as  yet  no  idea 
of  justification  by  faith.  In  answer  to  a  question  he  said 
to  the  preacher,  "  I  am  nothing  but  a  poor,  wretched,  con- 
demned sinner."  The  preacher  comforted  him  with  the 
promises  of  the  gospel,  told  him  that  he  was  the  one  for 
whom  Christ  died  or  he  would  not  have  awakened  him, 
and  commanded  him  to  believe. 

In  the  night  he  woke  from  a  troubled  dream,  and  seemed 
to  see  the  Lord  Jesus  with  extended  arms  saying,  "  I  died 
for  you."  In  his  journal  he  describes  the  effect:  "The 
Scriptures  were  wonderfully  opened  to  my  unden^tand- 
ing.  .  .  .  My  heart  felt  as  light  as  a  bird,  being  relieved 
of  that   load   of   guilt   which   before    had   weighed   down 

1  "  E.\perience  and  Gospel  Labors  of  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Abbott,"  by  John 
Ffirth  (Philadelphia,  1825). 


STRANGE  EXPERIENCES.  207 

my  spirits,  and  my  body  felt  as  active  as  when  I  was 
eighteen,  so  that  the  outward  and  inward  man  were  both 
animated." 

He  explained  the  Scriptures  to  the  family,  and  spent 
the  day  in  telling  all  what  God  had  done  for  him.  The 
effect  was  thrilling.  Some  laughed,  others  cried,  and 
a  report  was  spread  that  he  was  "  raving  mad."  A 
minister  tried  to  deliver  him  from  "  the  strong  delusions 
of  the  devil,"  and  Abbott  began  to  think  he  might  be 
right,  but  turned  a  little  out  of  the  road,  knelt  down  in 
the  wood,  and  prayed  that  if  he  was  deceived  God  would 
undeceive  him ;  and  God  said  to  him,  "  Why  do  you 
doubt?  Is  not  Christ  sufficient?  Is  he  not  able?  Have 
you  not  felt  his  blood  appHed?  " 

Some  time  afterward  he  dreamed  that  he  saw  the  preacher 
under  whom  he  was  awakened  drunk  and  playing  cards, 
his  garments  torn  and  defiled.  He  awoke  and  found  it 
only  a  dream,  but  in  three  weeks  learned  that  this  man, 
having  fallen  into  gross  sins,  had  been  expelled  from  the 
Connection.  This  was  the  first  expulsion  from  the  Metho- 
dist ministry.  Abbott  was  sorely  tempted,  but  while  pray- 
ing this  passage  of  Scripture  came  to  him,  "  Cursed  is  he 
that  putteth  his  trust  in  the  arm  of  flesh." 

He  now  began  to  study  the  Bible.  His  wife  closely 
watched  him,  and  after  some  months  she  was  genuinely 
converted  under  the  preaching  of  Philip  Gatch,  and  cried 
out,  "  Now  I  know  what  you  told  me  is  true,  for  the  Lord 
hath  pardoned  my  sins!" 

The  accounts  of  the  results  of  Abbott's  preaching  are  al- 
most incredible.  He  obtained  impressions  and  coined  aston- 
ishing sentences  as  he  preached.  Once  he  cried  out,  "  For 
aught  Iknowthere  maybe  a  murderer  in  this  congregation." 
A  man  arose  to  leave  the  house,  but  fell,  crying  out  that  it 
was  he,  for  he  had  killed  a  man  fifteen  years  before. 


208  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  viii. 

Multitudes  that  had  heard  Abbott  swear  and  had  seen 
him  fight  would  now  come  to  hear  him  preach.  He  was 
equally  powerful  in  preaching  to  the  whites,  the  Indians,  and 
the  negroes.  Hundreds  fell  unconscious  under  his  preach- 
ing. It  was  a  common  thing  for  scoffers,  as  he  looked  at 
them  and  denounced  their  iniquities,  to  fall  prostrate. 

His  fame  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  philosophers  and 
medical  men  in  England  discussed  the  question  of  his  san- 
ity. Southey  ^  says :  "  Benjamin  Abbott  not  only  threw 
his  hearers  into  fits,  but  often  fainted  himself  through  the 
vehemence  of  his  own  prayers  and  preachments." 

One  day  he  went  to  a  funeral  where  hundreds  were 
collected.  A  clergyman  of  the  English  church  read  the 
liturgy,  and  then  preached  "  a  short,  easy,  smooth,  soft 
sermon."  A  terrible  thunder-storm  was  gathering,  and 
huge  clouds  met  over  the  house,  which  caused  all  the 
people  to  crowd  into  it,  upstairs  and  down,  to  screen 
themselves  from  the  storm.  The  minister  asked  Abbott 
if  he  would  say  something  to  the  people.  He  rose 
upon  one  of  the  benches,  and  almost  as  soon  as  he  be- 
gan tremendous  claps  of  thunder,  exceeding  anything 
that  the  people  had  ever  heard,  succeeded  one  another  with 
appalling  rapidity,  and  incessantly  lightning  flashed  through 
the  house  in  a  terrifying  manner.  Abbott  preached  upon 
the  judgment ;  setting  before  the  people  "  the  awful 
coming  of  Christ  in  all  his  splendor,  with  all  the  armies  of 
heaven,  to  judge  the  world  and  to  take  vengeance  on  the 
ungodly."  This  storm  continued  above  an  hour,  during 
the  whole  of  which  time  he  was  appealing  to  the  people,  who 
screamed  and  clung  to  one  another  in  mortal  terror.  Many 
were  converted,  and  fourteen  years  afterward  there  were  in 
that  vicinity  twelve  witnesses  of  unimpeachable  character 
who  testified  that  their  awakening  was  due  to  that  sermon. 

1  "  Life  of  Wesley,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  261. 


VIEIVS   OF  SOUTHEY  AND    COLERIDGE.  2O9 

On  one  occasion  the  daughter  of  a  Quaker  was  earnestly 
crying  for  purity  of  heart.  Her  father  came  into  the  room 
and  reminded  Mr.  Abbott  that  the  Lord  is  not  in  the 
earthquake  nor  in  the  whirlwind,  but  in  the  still,  small 
voice.  He  replied,  "  Do  you  know  what  the  earthquake 
means?  It  is  the  mighty  thunder  of  God's  voice  from 
Mount  Sinai ;  it  is  the  divine  law  to  drive  us  to  Christ. 
And  the  whirlwind  is  the  power  of  conviction,  like  the 
rushing  of  a  mighty  wind,  tearing  away  every  false  hope, 
and  stripping  us  of  every  plea,  but,  '  Give  me  Christ  or  else 
I  die!'" 

Southey  1  devotes  three  pages  to  Benjamin  Abbott ;  and 
with  reference  to  his  reply  to  the  Quaker,  Samuel  Taylor 
Coleridge  says :  "  And  pertinently ;  though  it  would  per- 
haps have  been  a  reply  better  suited  to  the  reprover  had 
Abbott  said,  'True,  friend!  but  yet  it  was  by  God's  ordi- 
nance that  the  earthquake  and  the  whirlwind  should  go 
before  the  still,  small  voice.'  " 

Benjamin  Abbott  was  an  enthusiast,  but  neither  a 
fanatic  nor  a  lunatic.  Considered  in  connection  with  his 
early  life,  the  circumstances  of  his  conversion,  his  temper- 
ament, and  the  view  he  took  of  the  perils  of  the  unsaved, 
of  divine  providence,  the  life  of  the  apostles,  and  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  there  appears  a  logical  consistency  be- 
tween his  methods  and  themes  and  the  effects  he  sought 
to  produce.  While  he  believed  that  the  power  which 
prostrated  men  was  the  direct  operation  of  God,  he  distin- 
guished between  those  physical  effects  and  the  moral  trans- 
formation produced  by  the  Spirit  in  conviction,  conversion, 
and  sanctification.  In  the  midst  of  the  uproar  he  would 
cry,  "  Saul  also  was  among  the  prophets,  but  what  became 
of  Saul?     Break  off  your  iniquities  by  repentance!" 

Abbott  arrived  at  Judge  White's  house,  where  he  met 

1  "  Life  of  Wesley,"  vol.  ii. 


210  THE   METHODISTS.  [CnAi'.  viii. 

Asbury  and  a  score  of  other  preachers.  They  were 
astonished  at  his  simpHcity  and  power.  His  sermon  in 
the  chapel  was  overwhehning.  Some  sank  to  the  floor, 
others  fled  from  the  place.  Asbury  sent  him  to  the  house 
of  a  neighboring  gentleman  for  lodging  during  the  night; 
but  there  while  at  family  prayers  three  persons  fell  as 
dead  under  the  singing  of  the  hymn,  one  being  the  hostess 
herself,  and  under  the  prayer  several  others  were  pros- 
trated ;  and  the  host  himself,  who  had  become  a  back- 
slider, was  restored.  Three  hours  had  passed  before  their 
mingled  prayers  and  praises  ceased. 

John  Dickins  was  in  several  particulars  an  entire  con- 
trast to  this  man:  a  good  scholar  in  English,  Latin,  Greek, 
Hebrew,  and  mathematics ;  sensible ;  conscientious ;  a 
marvelous  disciplinarian,  uniting  firmness  with  discrimi- 
nation ;  a  systematic  expounder  of  the  Word  of  God,  yet 
with  extraordinary  cumulative  unction  in  its  application; 
an  ecclesiastical  legislator  who  without  the  loss  of  spiritu- 
ality apprehended  the  relation  of  a  religious  community  to 
the  development  of  the  New  World. 

Caleb  B.  Pedicord,  who  entered  the  ministry  in  1773,  is 
introduced  by  Ledlum  to  his  readers  thus:^  "Those  who 
have  seen  Mr.  Pedicord  have  testified  to  the  beauty  of  his 
person,  and  this  casket  contained  a  jewel  of  the  finest 
polish."  He  was  a  quiet,  pathetic  preacher,  and  probably 
converted  under  the  preaching  of  Robert  Strawbridge,  as 
he  was  a  native  of  Maryland.  His  life  was  spent  in  that  State, 
Delaware,  New  Jersey,  and  vicinity.  Early  in  his  minis- 
try he  was  "  baptized  unto  Christ  in  blood,"  for  soon  after 
he  began  to  preach  he  was  assaulted  on  the  highway  in 
Dorchester  County,  Maryland,  and  beaten  till  the  blood 
flowed.  He  found  shelter  in  a  neighboring  house,  and 
while  his  wounds  were  being  washed  a  brother  of  the  man 
1  Stevens,  vol.  ii.,  p.  201. 


A   PATHETIC  APPEAL.  211 

who  had  beaten  him  came  in,  and,  learning  the  facts, 
mounted  his  horse,  overtook  his  brother,  and  chastised 
him  so  severely  that  he  promised  never  to  molest  another 
itinerant.  Pedicord  bore  to  his  grave  the  scars  received 
on  that  occasion. 

Quiet  as  he  was,  he  was  able  to  encourage  the  thun- 
derer,  Abbott,  whom  he  found  thoroughly  discouraged 
in  1 78 1  on  a  new  circuit.  Abbott's  account  so  distressed 
him  that  he  could  not  eat  his  breakfast,  but  retired  to 
pray.  In  a  few  moments  he  returned  and  exclaimed, 
"  This  people  will  yet  hunger  and  thirst  for  the  Word  of 
God,"  a  prediction  that  was  fulfilled  in  a  few  months  by  an 
amazing  revival.  Whether  he  sang  or  preached,  his  voice 
was  probably  never  surpassed  in  influence  over  the  hearer. 

He  was  riding  one  evening  to  an  appointment  in  Mount 
Holly,  and  not  supposing  that  any  one  was  within  hearing, 
was  singing: 

I  cannot,  I  cannot  forbear 

These  passionate  longings  for  home ; 

Oh,  when  shall  my  spirit  be  there? 
Oh,  when  will  the  messenger  come? 

Thomas  Ware,  a  young  man  who  had  served  in  the 
Revolutionary  army,  was  wandering  in  an  adjacent  forest, 
and  "  was  deeply  touched  not  only  with  the  melody  of  his 
voice,  which  was  among  the  best  he  ever  heard,  but  with 
the  words,  especially  the  last  couplet."  "  After  he  ceased," 
says  Ware,  "  I  went  out  and  followed  him  a  great  distance, 
hoping  he  would  begin  again.  He,  however,  stopped  at 
the  house  of  a  Methodist  and  dismounted.  I  then  con- 
cluded he  must  be  a  Methodist  preacher  and  would  prob- 
ably preach  that  evening."  That  evening  Ware  heard  him 
and  entered  into  light. 

He  soon  began  to  speak  in  public.  Pedicord  per- 
ceived the  characteristics  which  made  Ware  afterward  one 


2 1 2  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  viii. 

of  the  most  successful  of  preachers  for  fifty  years,  a 
founder  of  the  denomination  from  New  Jersey  to  Tennes- 
see, from  Massachusetts  to  the  Carohnas,  and  by  his  pen 
one  of  the  best  contributors  to  its  early  history.^ 

Pedicord  wrote  to  Ware  from  Delaware,  summoning 
him  to  the  ministry.  No  history  of  American  Methodism 
can  be  complete  without  this  letter: 

"  He  who  claims  all  souls  as  his  own  and  wills  them  to 
be  saved  does  sometimes,  from  the  common  walks  of  life, 
choose  men  who  hav^e  learned  of  him  to  be  lowly  in  heart, 
and  bids  them  go  and  invite  the  world  to  the  great  supper. 
The  Lord  is  at  this  time  carrying  on  a  great  and  glorious 
work,  chiefly  by  young  men  like  yourself.  Oh,  come  and 
share  in  the  happy  toil  and  in  the  great  reward !  Mark 
me !  though  seven  winters  have  now  passed  over  me, 
and  much  of  the  way  has  been  dreary  enough,  yet  God 
has  been  with  me  and  kept  me  in  the  way,  and  often  whis- 
pered, 'Thou  art  mine,  and  all  I  have  is  thine.'  He  has, 
moreover,  given  me  sons,  and  daughters  too,  born  not  of 
the  flesh  but  of  God ;  and  who  can  estimate  the  joy  I  have 
in  one  destined,  I  hope,  to  fill  my  place  in  the  itinerant 
ranks  when  I  am  gone !  Who  then  will  say  that  mine 
was  not  a  happy  lot  ?  'Tis  well  you  have  made  haste ; 
much  more  than  I  can  express  have  I  wished  you  in  the 
ranks  before  mine  eyes  have  closed  in  death  on  all  below. 
When  Asbury  pressed  me  to  become  an  itinerant  I  said, 
'  God  has  called  me  to  preach,  and  woe  unto  me  if  I  preach 
not ;  '  but  I  had  no  conviction  that  he  had  called  me  to 
itinerate.  *  No  conviction,  my  son,'  said  he  to  me  sternly, 
'  that  you  should  follow  the  direction  of  Him  who  commis- 
sioned you  to  preach  ?  Has  the  charge  given  to  the  dis- 
ciples, "  Go  and  evangelize  the  world,"  been  revoked?  Is 
the  world  evangelized  ?  '      He  said  no  more.      I  looked  at 

>  Stevens's  '    History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  vol.  ii. 


JESSE  LEE  AS  A    SOLDIER.  213 

the  world ;  it  was  not  evangelized.  The  world  must  be 
evangelized ;  it  should  long  since  have  been  so,  had  all 
who  professed  to  be  ministers  of  Christ  been  such  as  were 
the  first  gospel  preachers  and  professors ;  for  who  can  con- 
tend with  him  who  is  Lord  of  lords  and  King  of  kings 
when  they  that  are  with  him  in  the  character  of  ministers 
and  members  are  called  and  chosen  and  faithful?  Here 
the  drama  ends  not ;  but  the  time,  we  think,  is  near — even 
at  the  door.  Nothing  can  kill  the  itinerant  spirit  which 
Wesley  has  inspired.  It  has  lived  through  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  and  will  live  through  all  future  time,  Chris- 
tendom will  become  more  enlightened,  will  feel  a  divine 
impulse,  and  a  way  will  be  cast  up  on  which  itinerants 
may  swiftly  move,  and  in  sufficient  numbers  to  teach  all 
nations  the  commands  of  God." 

Pedicord  was  constantly  subject  to  dejection.  Once  he 
concluded  that  he  was  not  called  to  preach,  and  was  about 
to  return  home,  but  happened  to  meet  an  aged  colored 
woman,  who  told  him  that  what  he  had  said  on  a  former 
occasion  had  been  the  means  of  awakening  her  and  of 
bringing  her  to  God.  This  dissipated  his  fears  and  doubts, 
for  said  he,  "  I  thought  it  was  better  to  gain  one  soul  to 
Christ  than  to  acquire  all  the  riches  of  the  world." 

Jesse  Lee  was  converted  in  Virginia  in  1773  under  the 
preaching  of  Robert  Williams.  His  parents  had  opened  their 
house  for  preaching,  and  they  and  their  children  were  con- 
verted. Two  of  the  sons  became  ministers.  Jesse  Lee  de- 
veloped untiring  zeal,  traveling  on  foot  day  and  night  to 
reach  the  various  meetings  of  the  extensive  circuit.  He  was 
familiar  with  the  extraordinary  scenes  that  took  place  on  the 
Brunswick  circuit  under  the  preaching  of  George  Shad- 
ford,  where  "  it  was  quite  common  for  sinners  to  be  seized 
with  a  trembling  and  shaking,  and  from  that  to  fall  down 
on  the  floor  as  if  they  were  dead ;   and  many  have  been 


214  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  viii. 

convulsed  from  head  to  foot,  while  others  have  retained 
the  use  of  their  tongues  so  as  to  pray  for  mercy  while  they 
were  lying  helpless  on  the  ground  or  floor.  The  Chris- 
tians, too,  were  sometimes  so  overcome  with  the  presence 
and  love  of  God  as  not  to  be  able  to  stand  on  their  feet."  ^ 

He  continued  to  increase  in  fervor,  as  that  general  revival 
advanced,  until  1777,  when  he  removed  to  North  Carolina. 
Previously,  being  very  diffident,  he  had  declined  to  speak 
in  public,  but  there  among  strangers  he  gained  more  cour- 
age, and  was  soon  appointed  class-leader,  then  exhorter, 
and  in  1779  preached  his  first  sermon. 

In  1780  he  was  drafted  into  the  Revolutionary  army. 
Then  occurred  a  singular  struggle.  As  a  Christian  and  a 
preacher  of  the  gospel  he  could  not  reconcile  himself  to 
kill  one  of  his  fellow-creatures  or  to  bear  arms.  He  de- 
termined, however,  to  go  and  to  trust  in  the  Lord.  He 
was  two  weeks  on  the  journey  to  the  camp,  and  on  the 
evening  that  he  came  in  sight  of  it  he  prayed  God  to  take  his 
case  in  hand  and  support  him  in  the  test  of  his  conscience. 
He  was  ordered  on  parade.  The  sergeant  offered  him  a 
gun;  he  refused  it.  The  lieutenant  brought  another;  he 
would  not  take  it.  The  lieutenant  reported  him  to  the 
colonel,  and  again  presented  the  gun,  but  Lee  refused  to 
touch  it.  He  was  therefore  delivered  to  the  guard.  The 
colonel  remonstrated  with  him,  but,  being  unable  to  move 
him,  he  was  considered  to  be  a  fanatic  or  a  lunatic,  and  left 
to  himself.  He  began  immediately  to  pray  with  the  guard, 
and  such  was  the  influence  of  his  praying  and  preaching 
that  the  people  gathered  around  him  to  the  number  of 
hundreds.  Soldiers  brought  straw,  overcoats,  and  blank- 
ets for  his  bedding.  He  slept  a  few  hours  and  then  rose 
and  began  to  sing.  An  innkeeper  in  the  neighborhood 
heard  him  praying  early  in  the  morning,  and  besought  him 
1  Lee's  "  History  of  the  Methodists,"  p.  53. 


UNITY  IN  DIVERSITY.  21$ 

to  preach.  He  stood  upon  a  bench  and  preached  near  the 
tent  of  the  commanding  officer.  Great  was  the  excite- 
ment, and  before  he  finished  officers  as  well  as  men  were 
bathed  in  tears.  Gentlemen  went  about  to  make  a  collec- 
tion of  money  for  him,  at  which  Lee  ran  among  the  peo- 
ple begging  them  to  desist. 

The  colonel  had  a  long  talk  with  him,  and  wished  him 
to  say  what  he  could  do,  as  thay  did  not  desire  to  oppress 
him.  He  replied  that  he  was  a  friend  to  his  country,  and 
was  ready  to  do  anything  he  could  for  it  except  fighting. 
He  was  asked  if  he  would  be  willing  to  drive  the  baggage- 
wagon.  He  said  he  would.  Then  the  colonel  told  him 
that  their  chief  cook  was  a  Methodist,  and  he  could  drive 
the  wagon  when  upon  the  march,  and  might  ride  and  eat 
with  him ;  to  this  Lee  agreed,  whereupon  he  was  released 
from  guard.  He  remained  in  the  army  for  four  months, 
doing  this  work,  and  preaching  whenever  he  could  obtain 
an  opportunity. 

He  was  not  ready,  however,  to  become  an  itinerant 
preacher,  but  visited  the  Conference  of  1 782,  at  the  close 
of  which  Asbury  inquired  if  he  was  willing  to  take  a  cir- 
cuit. He  declined,  but  intimated  that  he  was  at  a  loss 
what  to  do ;  that  he  feared  that  he  was  incompetent  and 
would  hurt  the  cause.  Asbury,  perceiving  a  number  of 
the  preachers  standing  in  the  yard,  raised  his  voice  and 
cried,  "  I  am  going  to  enlist  Brother  Lee !  "  Familiar  with 
Lee's  career  in  the  army,  one  of  them  said,  "  What  bounty 
do  you  give  ?  "  and  Asbury  replied,  "  Grace  here  and  glory 
hereafter  will  be  given  him  if  he  is  faithful." 

The  influence  of  his  preaching  was  equally  great  upon 
himself  and  upon  the  people.  They  would  weep  until  he 
could  not  be  heard,  and  at  times  he  would  weep  and  be 
utterly  unable  to  speak.  On  such  an  occasion  he  said, 
"  I  found  that  love  had  tears  as  well  as  grief." 


2l6  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  viii. 

He  became  one  of  the  -most  versatile  orators  and 
conversers,  alike  at  home  in  pathos,  humor,  and  wit.  Ware 
says  that  he  preached  with  more  ease  than  any  other 
man  he  knew.  In  repartee  he  was  never  surpassed,  and 
his  moral  courage,  as  exhibited  in  the  army,  was  un- 
bounded. 

In  their  respective  types  these  were  the  most  emi- 
nent of  the  early  Methodist  preachers.  With  all  their 
diversity  there  was  a  remarkable  unity  in  doctrine,  spirit, 
and  experience  ;  and,  if  there  was  variety  in  method,  there 
was  no  mistaking  a  Methodist  preacher  or  a  Methodist  for 
a  communicant  of  any  other  denomination.  When  mem- 
bers of  other  bodies  associated  frequently  with  Metho- 
dists, caught  their  spirit  and  expressed  their  experiences 
in  similar  language,  if  they  were  mistaken  for  Metho- 
dists it  was  because  the  characteristics  of  the  latter  had 
obscured  those  of  the  communions  in  which  they  were 
trained. 

Preachers  of  such  marked  types  impressed  upon  the 
more  plastic  of  their  converts  their  own  peculiarities ;  but 
in  every  revival,  and  almost  in  every  class-meeting,  some 
Christian  arose  who  could  never  be  an  imitator,  and  un- 
hampered by  conventionalism  or  unchecked  except  in  a 
general  way  by  rules  and  rites  formed  under  the  operation 
of  its  semi-military  discipline,  or  by  the  strong  hand  of  its 
administrators.  The  ebullitions  of  zeal  and  peculiarities 
of  expression  of  such  Methodists  gave  to  each  local  soci- 
ety, and  to  at  least  one  local  preacher  on  every  circuit,  a 
power  of  attraction  which  kept  every  community  in  a 
state  of  expectancy  of  something  new  and  startling.  Some 
of  these  eccentric  characters  were  among  the  best  men  con- 
nected with  the  movement. 

As  they  grew  older  their  idiosyncrasies  became  less 
distinct,  their  exuberance   of   expression  was   chastened, 


MORAL  AND  MENTAL   PATHOLOGY.  21  7 

but  their  zeal  remained,  and  having  begun  as  collectors 
of  materials  for  wiser  workmen  they  themselves  became 
master  builders. 

The  demonstrations  which  followed  the  preaching  of 
Abbott,  took  place  under  that  of  Williams,  were  seen, 
in  fact,  wherever  a  genuine  Methodist  preached,  for  a 
time  caused  much  controversy.  By  many,  perhaps  by 
most,  Methodists  they  were  supposed  to  be  direct  re- 
sults of  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  manifest 
proofs  of  His  presence  and  approval  of  the  work.  By 
a  few  their  absence  was  construed  into  evidence  of  the 
disfavor  of  God  and  believed  to  be  the  result  of  backslid- 
ing. Some  stigmatized  those  demonstrations  as  wild 
fanaticism,  and  others  denounced  them  as  hypocrisy. 

Some  constructed  a  theory  to  explain  them  on  the 
hypothesis  that  they  followed  only  exciting  preachers  like 
Abbott ;  but  this  was  a  baseless  assumption.  They  oc- 
curred under  the  preaching  of  John  Wesley,  argumenta- 
tive, precise,  and  logical,  rarely  losing  his  self-possession, 
not  given  to  tears,  before  they  appeared  under  George 
Whitefield.  They  also  took  place  under  the  reading  of 
the  logical  and  metaphysical  discourses  of  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards. They  defied  the  denunciations,  threatenings,  and 
appeals  of  Thomas  Rankin,  who  abominated  them  as  dis- 
order. Another  remarkable  fact  was  that  skeptics  and 
opponents  were  as  liable  as  others  to  succumb,  so  that  it 
became  dangerous  for  such  in  the  pursuit  of  their  inquiries 
to  draw  near  to  those  who  were  engaging  in  prayer  or  to 
approach  too  near  the  fervent  preacher. 

By  their  recognition  as  proper,  license  was  given  to  the 
fanatic  and  the  impostor.  The  latter  might  seek  to  win 
the  confidence  of  preachers  and  people  by  the  loudness  of 
his  cries,  the  vehemence  of  his  gestures,  or  his  seeming 
unconsciousness ;  the  former  might  mistake  the  condition 


2l8  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  viii. 

into  which  he  passed  for  the  power  of  God,  the  seal  of  the 
divine  approbation,  and  the  evidence  that  he  had  passed 
from  darkness  into  Hght. 

To  those  who  search  for  an  explanation  of  these  phe- 
nomena, the  fact  that  they  have  occurred  under  all  forms 
of  religion,  true  and  false,  is  in  importance  second 
only  to  the  fact  that  many  of  the  subjects  underwent 
no  moral  change,  and  that  many  who  experienced  the 
most  radical  moral  changes  were  not  subject  to  such 
seizures. 

The  psychological  key  to  the  problem  is  that  concen- 
trated attention,  accompanied  by  strong  religious  emotion, 
produces  a  powerful  impression  upon  the  nervous  system, 
the  result  being  an  agitation  of  the  nerves  throughout  the 
body,  the  effects  of  which  differ  according  to  the  consti- 
tution of  the  subject.  In  one  relief  is  found  in  floods  of 
tears,  in  another  in  hysterical  laughter,  in  a  third  by  un- 
consciousness, in  a  fourth  by  a  partial  loss  of  muscular 
action,  with  marked  effects  upon  the  operations  of  the 
mind ;  in  yet  another  complete  catalepsy  may  be  produced, 
every  muscle  becoming  rigid  and  so  remaining  for  hours, 
while  no  impression  can  be  made  by  ordinary  means  upon 
either  the  senses  or  the  mind ;  in  still  another  involuntary 
motions  may  be  constantly  made,  lasting  for  hours  to- 
gether; while  some  temperaments  can  bear  religious  or 
any  other  kind  of  emotion  without  outward  excitement 
and  with  no  indication  except  an  unusual  calmness.  These 
differences  of  susceptibility  are  seen  outside  the  sphere  of 
religion,  and  even  among  members  of  the  same  family. 

It  is  also  a  law  that  the  perception  of  the  effects  of 
emotion  and  proximity  to  those  who  are  under  the  power 
thereof  will  produce  upon  many  effects  similar  to  those 
manifested  before  them,  so  that  they  will  weep  when 
others  weep  even  though  in  no  way  related  to  the  cause 


RATIONAL  AND   SCRIPTURAL   DISCIPLINE.         219 

of  grief.  Thus  great  panics  arise,  and  mental  and  moral 
epidemics.  Thus  crowds  are  transformed  into  murderous 
mobs,  guilty  of  deeds  from  which  every  individual  when 
alone  would  have  shrunk.  Thus,  in  wild  alarm,  armies 
have  been  stampeded  before  forces  which  they  could  have 
overthrown  without  difficulty  had  they  made  a  stand.  It 
is  not,  however,  so  generally  known  that  any  special  form 
of  manifestation  may  become  epidemic  if  believed  to  have 
a  divine  or  even  a  naturally  necessary  origin,  and  be  in- 
definitely repeated.  This  explains  the  permanence  of  dif- 
ferent types,  such  as  the  Jumpers  in  Wales,  the  Jerks  in  the 
Southwestern  States,  the  quaking"  from  which  the  Friends 
received  the  name  now  generally  applied  to  them,  and,  in  a 
modified  form,  the  tones  of  different  denominations,  many 
of  whose  members,  without  being  aware  of  it,  never  speak 
upon  the  subject  of  religion  except  with  the  inflections  and 
intonations  which  were  common  in  the  earlier  and  more 
susceptible  period  of  the  history  of  the  body. 

Wise  administrators  would  not  suppress  tears  under  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel,  even  in  excess,  lest  the  direction 
of  the  consciousness  of  the  individual  to  his  own  state 
should  divert  his  attention  from  the  Word  of  God.  In 
like  manner,  should  such  extraordinary  results  seem  to 
follow  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  only  in  extreme  cases 
would  it  be  wise  to  check  them  arbitrarily,  since  private 
instruction  and  an  infusion  of  calmness  into  the  manner 
of  the  minister  would  be  adequate  to  preserve  decorum 
and  check  fanaticism  and  make  the  role  of  the  impostor 
more  difficult. 

The  system  of  discipline  adopted  by  the  Methodists 
rested  upon  both  a  Scriptural  and  a  philosophical  basis. 
Converts  were  received  on  probation,  and  regular  meetings 
were  held  for  examination  and  instruction ;  consistency 
of  conduct  was   required ;   exhorters  and  local  preachers 


220  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  viu. 

were  licensed;  where  outward  excitement  predominated 
over  inward  spiritual  grace,  the  subjects  thereof  were  re- 
proved, and  if  any  became  so  boisterous  as  to  defeat  the 
end  for  which  the  services  were  held  they  were  removed. 
Of  such,  when  not  suspected  of  imposture,  Wesley  was 
accustomed  to  write,  "  Oh,  honest  heart,  but  poor  head!" 
and  of  those  who  plainly  gave  themselves  up  to  rhapsodies 
as  to  a  kind  of  luxury  he  said,  "  They  are  froth  without 
substance." 

Various  factors  were  involved  in  producing  the  effects  of 
Methodist  preaching  and  methods:  the  personal  influence 
of  the  preachers,  exerted  through  their  testimony,  example, 
conversation,  oratory,  and  discipline ;  the  contact  of  the 
members  in  social  life  and  in  the  almost  continuous  meet- 
ings ;  the  hymns  and  prayers,  and  the  reflex  action  of  all 
upon  each  and  of  each  upon  all ;  the  power  of  truth  rela- 
tive to  the  moral  condition  and  needs  of  the  hearer,  and 
the  tremendous  concentrated  effect  of  fixed  ideas  as  the 
work  spread  and  assemblies  increased  until  they  became 
vast  open-air  congresses ;  and  under  peculiarly  favorable 
circumstances  a  new  power  was  developed,  resembling,  in 
germs,  the  influence  of  smaller  meetings,  but  so  magnified 
as  to  seem  almost  a  different  force. 

Beyond  and  above  all  this  was  the  might  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Without  His  aid  great  results  might  have  followed, 
a  powerful  organization  iiave  been  formed,  many  reforma- 
tions of  outer  life  effected.  But  profound  modifications 
of  character,  amazing  developments  of  courage,  and  the 
almost  ceaseless  flow,  through  a  long  life,  of  religious 
joy  approaching  ecstasy,  triumphing  over  the  infirmities 
of  the  body,  dissipating  dejection,  and  often  exhibited 
most  overwhelmingly  when  mere  human  elements  would 
have  been  wholly  ineffectual  to  sustain  it ;  and  the  pres- 
ervation   and  growth    of    the    fruits    of    the   Spirit,   and 


SPIRITUAL   INFLUENCES.  221 

their  correspondence  with  the  plain  teachings  of  God's 
Word,  constitute  proof  of  the  divine  origin  of  the  move- 
ment as  conclusive  as  that  furnished  when  holy  men  of 
old  spake  not  of  themselves,  but  as  they  were  moved  by 
the  Holy  Ghost. 

There  were  not  wanting  those  who  constructed  finely 
woven  theories  to  explain  the  results  of  Methodist  preach- 
ing upon  natural  principles,  and  there  were  others  who 
denied  that  these  principles  had  any  influence.  Both 
were  in  error ;  the  former  by  predicating  of  nature  effects 
that  it  never  did  or  could  produce,  the  latter  by  denying 
to  nature  the  vast  power  which  really  exists  to  create 
influences  which  seem  to  many  to  be  supernatural.  Had 
there  been  no  influence  beyond  unassisted  nature  neither 
Christianity  nor  Methodism  as  a  spiritual  system  could 
have  become  permanent.  The  Scriptures  uniformly  rep- 
resent all  the  afifections  peculiar  to  the  Christian  life  as 
fruits  of  the  Spirit,  teaching  that  spiritual  regeneration 
is  necessary  to  entering  the  kingdom  of  God.  Certain 
truths  are  revealed  and  certain  efifects  predicated  through 
the  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  All  true  Christians 
know  that  for  a  considerable  period  they  reflected  upon 
the  letter  of  spiritual  truth  with  little  or  no  feeling.  Many 
had  been  instructed  in  the  principles  of  religion  and  might 
have  written  essays  or  prepared  discourses  on  the  most 
spiritual  doctrines,  but  were  without  deep  emotions.  At 
intervals  they  were  self-condemned  and  occasionally 
yearned  for  union  with  God,  but  as  a  rule  they  had  no 
religious  feeling — at  least,  none  higher  than  admiration 
and  esteem  for  the  principles  of  truth  in  which  they  had 
been  instructed.  There  came,  however,  a  period  when 
the  deepest  emotions  of  penitence  filled  their  souls.  This 
was  succeeded  by  joyous  hope  and  a  strong  and  lasting 
inclination  of  their  hearts  toward  the  truth. 


222  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  viii. 

None  ever  attained  these  fruits  of  the  Spirit  who 
sought  them  in  the  firm  behef  that  they  are  simply  nat- 
ural results  of  reflection  ;  nor  could  any  one,  upon  the 
assumption  that  all  that  was  necessary  would  be  for  him 
to  think  and  converse  and  right  feelings  would  arise  in  his 
soul,  succeed  in  attaining  the  experience  of  the  Christian. 
If  men  did  not  need  spiritual  influences  they  would  re- 
quire only  truth  and  examples  for  imitation;  their  feelings 
would  spontaneously  follow  and  concur  with  their  views 
of  truth.  The  teaching  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  that  He,  and 
He  alone,  reestablishes  and  maintains  the  connection  be- 
tween the  views  and  the  feelings,  so  that  the  heart  loves 
and  cleaves  to  what  the  judgment  approves. 

Wherever  the  truth  is  preached  the  Holy  Spirit  strives 
to  aff"ect  human  hearts,  and  if  those  who  listen  yield,  all 
the  emotions  which  God  approves  and  desires  to  produce 
spring  up.  If,  however,  the  Spirit  is  quenched,  there  remain 
only  the  simple  intellectual  processes  of  thought,  without 
radical  changes  of  character.  In  that  condition  all  nat- 
ural efi"ects  may  be  produced.  The  man  whose  will  does 
not  submit  to  the  will  of  God  may  become  the  subject  of 
epidemic  feeling  and  sink  under  what  he  believes  to  be 
the  power  of  God. 

Wesley  and  his  followers  were  charged  with  teaching 
that  the  mind  has  an  inward  feeling  which  enables  it  to 
perceive  the  ordinary  influences  of  God's  Spirit  so  as  to 
discern  from  whence  they  come.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Ruther- 
forth,  a  distinguished  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England, 
wrote  a  treatise  in  1763,  one  of  the  chapters  of  which  was 
entitled  "An  Examination  of  the  Doctrines  of  the  Meth- 
odists Concerning  Inward  Eeelings."  Wesley  saw  it  first  in 
1768  and  immediately  answered  it.  As  few  writers  on  the 
more  extraordinary  phenomena  of  Methodism  appear  to  have 
read  this  elaborate  discussion,  and  as  it  is  one  of  the  best 


DISriNGUISlIlNG  THE  HUMAN  AND  THE  DIVIXl:.   223 

examples  of  the  clear  distinctions  which  Wesley  made  and 
insisted  upon,  it  is  important  to  introduce  certain  passages : 

"You  state  the  question  thus:  'Have  we  any  reason  to 
believe  that  the  mind  has  an  inward  feeling  which  will 
enable  it  to  perceive  the  ordinary  influences  of  God's 
Spirit  so  as  to  discern  from  whence  they  come?'  (p.  15). 

"I  answer:  (i)  The  fruit  of  his  ordinary  influences  are 
love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  meekness. 
(2)  Whoever  has  these,  inwardly  feels  them,  and  if  he 
understands  his  Bible  he  discerns  from  whence  they  come. 
Observe,  what  he  inwardly  feels  is  these  fruits  themselves ; 
whence  they  come  he  learns  from  the  Bible.  .  .  . 

"5.  Mr.  W.  indeed  'endeavors  to  explain  away  the 
doctrine  of  the  Methodists  concerning  inward  feelings' 
(p.  25).  That  is,  I  plainly  tell  what  I  mean  by  those 
expressions.  My  words  run  thus :  '  By  feeling  I  mean 
being  inwardly  conscious  of;  by  the  operations  of  the 
Spirit  I  do  not  mean  the  manner  in  which  he  operates, 
but  the  graces  which  he  operates,  in  a  Christian.'  And 
again :  '  We  believe  that  love,  joy,  peace,  are  inwardly  felt 
or  they  have  no  being,  and  that  men  are  satisfied  they 
have  grace,  first  by  feeling  these  and  afterward  by  their 
outward  actions.'  .  .  . 

"  6.  But  you  will  pin  it  upon  me,  whether  I  will  or  no, 
and  that  by  three  passages  of  my  own  writings:  (i)  'Lucy 
Godshall  felt  the  love  of  God  in  an  unusual  manner.'  She 
did.  I  mean  in  an  unusual  degree.  And  what  will  you 
make  of  this?  (2)  'When  he  examined  some  of  his  dis- 
ciples, and  they  related  their  "  feeling  the  blood  of  Christ 
running  upon  their  arms,  or  going  down  their  throats,  or' 
poured  like  water  upon  their  breast  and  heart,"  did  he  tell 
them  that  these  circumstances  were  all  the  dreams  of  a 
heated  imagination  ? '  I  did ;  I  told  them  that  these 
three  circumstances,  and  several  others  of  the  same  kind, 


224  ^■^^^"  MJ^TNOD/STS.  [Chap.  viii. 

were  mere  dreams,  though  some  of  those  which  they  then 
related  might  be  otherwise.  I  will  tell  you  more :  I  was 
so  disgusted  at  them  for  those  dreams  that  I  expelled 
them  out  of  the  society. 

"  The  third  passage  is  this :  *  We  do  speak  of  grace 
(meaning  thereby  the  power  of  God,  which  worketh  in  us 
both  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure)  that  it  is  as 
perceptible  to  the  heart,  while  it  confirms,  refreshes,  puri- 
fies, and  sheds  the  love  of  God  abroad  therein,  as  sensible 
objects  are  to  the  senses '  (p.  27).  I  do  speak  thus;  and 
I  mean  thereby  that  the  comfort  which  God  administers, 
not  his  power  distinct  from  it,  the  love  and  purity  which 
he  works,  not  his  act  of  working  distinguished  from  it,  are 
as  clearly  discernible  by  the  soul  as  outward  objects  by 
the  senses.  And  I  never  so  much  as  dreamed  that  any 
one  could  find  any  other  meaning  in  the  words."  ^ 

In  this  early  period  of  American  Methodism  the  con- 
summate wisdom  of  Francis  Asbury,  fully  equal  to  that 
displayed  by  John  Wesley,  in  distributing  men  of  different 
gifts  in  suitable  succession,  was  exhibited.  After  a  few 
months  under  the  influence  of  an  evangelist  of  quenchless 
zeal  a  sound  administrator  was  placed  over  the  society, 
and  the  evangelist  sent  to  a  people  where  backsliding  had 
occurred  because  the  enemy  had  sown  tares.  No  general 
ever  stationed  his  troops  with  greater  skill  than  Asbury 
displayed  in  the  adjustment  of  ministerial  supplies  to  the 
infant  societies.  He  knew  whom  to  trust,  and,  ceaselessly 
moving  among  the  people,  made  changes  without  regard 
to  the  limitation  of  time,  composed  feuds  by  authority  and 
counsels,  rekindled  dying  interest  or  quenched  the  fiames 
of  fanaticism,  extricated  a  brother  from  the  consequences 
of  his  own  imprudence  or  delivered  a  society  from  the 
control  of  an  indiscreet  administrator. 

1  Wesley's  "  Works,"  vol.  vii.,  pp.  498-500. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

ORGANIZATION    OF    THE    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL 
CHURCH. 

Thomas  Coke,  LL.D.,  accompanied  by  Richard  What- 
coat  and  Thomas  Vasey,  sailed  on  the  i8th  of  September, 
1784,  from  Bristol,  England,  for  New  York. 

Coke  may  with  propriety  be  styled  Wesley's  minister 
plenipotentiary  to  American  Methodism.  He  was  a  na- 
tive of  South  Wales,  an  only  child,  and  while  an  infant 
was  bereaved  of  his  father,  an  eminent  surgeon  who  had 
several  times  filled  the  office  of  chief  magistrate  of  his  town. 
He  was  somewhat  frivolous  while  a  youth,  but  was  not  im- 
moral and  observed  the  outward  forms  of  religion.  When 
but  sixteen  he  was  entered  a  "  gentleman  commoner  "  at 
Jesus  College  in  Oxford  University,  and  was  shocked  by 
the  looseness  of  life  and  the  skepticism  which  prevailed 
at  that  seat  of  learning,  but  "by  slow  and  imperceptible 
degrees  he  became  a  captive  to  those  snares  of  infidel- 
ity which  he  had  at  first  surveyed  with  detestation  and 
horror."  ^ 

He  pursued  a  career  of  dissipation  and  folly,  but  was 
preserved  from  gross  sins.  From  infidelity  he  was  rescued 
by  a  powerful  sermon  preached  by  one  who  confessed  to 
him  that  he  did  not  believe  the  doctrines  he  had  been 
defending.     Such  base  inconsistency  disgusted  Coke  and 

1  Drew's  "  Life  of  Coke,"  (American  edition,  1818). 
225 


226  THE   iMETIIODISTS.  [Chai-.  ix. 

opened  his  eyes  to  the  terrible  consequences  of  rejecting 
the  Word  of  God.  He  turned  to  the  Dissertations  of 
Bishop  Sherlock,  by  reading  which  he  was  made  a  Chris- 
tian in  theory;  and  a  treatise  on  "  Regeneration"  by  Dr. 
Witherspoon  kindled  within  him  an  intense  desire  to  be- 
come a  spiritual  disciple. 

At  twenty-one  he  was  chosen  a  common  councilman 
for  the  borough  of  Brecon,  a  position  which  his  father  had 
held;  and  at  twenty-five  was  elected  chief  magistrate,  dis- 
charging the  duties  of  that  office  with  the  highest  repute 
for  impartiality  and  fidelity.  He  intended  to  enter  holy  or- 
ders, but  desired  them  rather  as  a  means  to  promotion  than 
as  an  opportunity  for  earnest  work  in  the  church  of  Christ. 

The  degree  of  Doctor  of  Civil  Law  was  conferred  upon 
him  by  Oxford,  after  an  examination  of  his  qualifications, 
on  the  17th  of  June,  1775.  After  several  years  he  was 
appointed  curate  at  South  Petherton,  and  became  an  ear- 
nest preacher,  displaying  such  power  of  eloquence  that  the 
church  could  not  contain  the  crowds  who  sought  to  enter. 
He  applied  to  the  vestry  for  a  gallery  to  be  erected  at  the 
cost  of  the  parish,  but  the  request  was  refused.  Having  a 
fortune  of  his  own,  without  further  consultation  he  hired 
tradesmen  and  built  the  gallery  at  his  own  expense.' 

At  South  Petherton  he  met  Thomas  Maxfield,  a  preacher 
sent  out  by  Wesley,  but  who  was  ordained  by  the  Bishop 
of  Londonderry,  who  used  this  remarkable  language  :  "  Sir, 
I  ordain  you  to  assist  that  good  man  [Wesley],  that  he  may 
not  work  himself  to  death." 

The  reputation  of  Coke  having  reached  Maxfield,  he 
sought  an  acquaintance,  and  explained  to  the  young  curate 
the  necessity  and  nature  of  conversion,  and  gave  him  Al- 
leine's  "Alarm  to  the  Unconverted,"  with  the  usual  conse- 
quences. Coke,  after  becoming  the  subject  of  genuine 
1  Drew's  "  Life  of  Coke,"  p.  16. 


COKE  BECOMES  A   METHODIST.  227 

regeneration,  threw  away  his  notes,  and  a  new  unction 
attended  his  word,  so  that  on  the  occasion  of  his  first  ex- 
temporaneous sermon  three  were  awakened.  He  dehvered 
evening  lectures  in  the  villages,  and  introduced  the  singing 
of  hymns  into  the  church.  Neighboring  clergymen  were 
ofifended  at  his  violation  of  order  and  at  the  drawing  away 
of  their  hearers.  A  charge  was  made  against  him  and  for- 
mally presented  to  Bishop  Ross,  who  said  that  all  he  could 
do  was  to  suspend  him,  which  would  make  him  a  martyr, 
and  therefore  he  thought  it  not  best  to  do  it.  An  accusa- 
tion was  then  laid  before  the  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells, 
but  he  confined  himself  to  admonition.  Finally  the  rec- 
tor of  the  parish  was  besought  to  dismiss  him,  which  he 
did.  To  consummate  their  triumph  his  enemies  actually 
caused  the  parish  bells  "to  chime  him  out  of  the  doors." 
Coke  stood  in  the  street  near  the  church,  and  when 
the  service  closed  began  to  preach.  A  mob  gathered, 
but  two  young  persons  of  the  best  society  supported 
him. 

While  the  fame  of  these  exciting  events  was  spreading, 
John  Wesley  appeared  not  far  from  South  Petherton. 
His  "Journal"  of  August  18,  1776,  says:  "  I  preached  at 
Taunton,  and  afterward  went  with  Mr.  Brown  to  Kings- 
ton. Here  I  found  a  clergyman,  Dr.  Coke,  late  a  gentle- 
man commoner  of  Jesus  College  in  Oxford,  who  came 
twenty  miles  on  purpose  to  meet  me.  I  had  much  con- 
versation with  him,  and  an  union  then  began  which  I  trust 
shall  never  end."  ^ 

A  year  later  Wesley  writes :  "  I  went  forward  to  Taun- 
ton with  Dr.  Coke,  who,  being  dismissed  from  his  curacy, 
is  determined  to  bid  adieu  to  his  honorable  name  and  cast 
in  his  lot  with  us."  - 

1  Drew'.s  "  Life  of  Coke,"  p.  29. 

2  Wesley's  "  Works,"  vol.  iv.,  p.  477, 


228  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  tx. 

Coke  now  became  one  of  the  most  attractive  preach- 
ers in  England,  which  is  attributed  by  his  biographer,  the 
shrewd  and  metaphysical  Samuel  Drew,  to  his  earnestness, 
activity,  piety,  unconquerable  desire  to  do  good,  the  mel- 
ody of  his  voice,  his  engaging  smile,  the  clerical  character 
which  he  sustained,  and  "  the  peculiar  unction  with  which 
God  was  pleased  to  attend  his  word." 

Wesley  appointed  him  to  superintend  the  affairs  of  the 
London  circuit  in  1 780.  Toward  the  close  of  the  same 
year  Wesley  appointed  him  to  visit  the  societies  in  Ireland 
alternately  with  himself  once  in  every  two  years,  leaving 
him  free  to  take  such  journeys  in  England  as  prudence 
might  direct. 

After  Coke  left  South  Petherton  a  great  change  took  place 
there  in  public  opinion  of  him.  His  opponents  everywhere 
met  mournful  countenances  ;  "  the  poor  had  lost  their  bene- 
factor, the  people  their  pastor,  the  sick  their  comforter,  and 
the  wicked  the  only  person  that  kept  them  in  awe."  On  his 
revisiting  the  place  his  opponents  were  the  first  to  chastise 
their  own  error.  "  Well,"  said  they,  "  we  chimed  him  out, 
and  now  we  will  atone  for  our  folly  by  ringing  him  in." 

There  were  in  the  United  Kingdom  three  hundred  and 
fifty-nine  Methodist  chapels  by  the  year  i  784.  Soon  after 
the  erection  of  chapels  began  Wesley  published  a  "  model 
deed  "  by  which  they  weie  to  be  held.  This  placed  them 
in  the  hands  of  trustees  "  for  the  time  being,"  under  the 
restriction  that  Wesley  and  such  others  as  he  might  from 
time  to  time  appoint  were  to  have  free  use  of  the  premises  to 
preach  therein  God's  holy  Word.  If  he  died  the  same  right 
was  secured  to  his  brother,  and  if  his  brother's  decease  oc- 
curred before  that  of  William  Grimshaw  the  .same  preroga- 
tives were  to  belong  to  the  latter.  But  after  the  three  men- 
tioned clergymen  these  prerogatives  were  transferred  to 
"  the  Yearly  Conference  of  the  people  called  Methodists." 


IVESLE  Y'S  "  DEED    OE  DE CLA RA  TION. "  229 

In  these  deeds  the  proviso  was  introduced  that  the  said 
persons  appointed  by  the  conference  preach  no  other 
doctrines  than  those  contained  in  Wesley's  "  Notes  on 
the  New  Testament  "  and  his  four  volumes  of  " Sermons."  i 

The  deed  of  John  Street  Church  in  the  city  of  New 
York  was  drawn  up  on  this  model. 

But  in  none  of  these  deeds  was  "  the  Yearly  Conference 
of  the  people  called  Methodists  "  defined,  nor  was  there 
any  declaration  of  the  names  of  those  who  were  then  mem- 
bers of  the  said  conference,  nor  any  provision  whereby  the 
succession  and  identity  thereof  were  to  be  continued.  To 
supply  these  deficiencies  Wesley  carefully  prepared  a 
"  Deed  of  Declaration,"  which  was  "  executed  on  the  28th 
of  February,  1784,  and  enrolled  in  the  High  Court  of 
Chancery."  By  this  deed  the  legal  conference  is  declared 
to  consist  of  one  hundred  preachers,  whose  names  and  ad- 
dresses are  given.  They  and  their  successors  are  required 
forever  to  assemble  once  a  year.  The  act  of  the  majority 
is  decreed  to  be  the  act  of  the  whole.  They  are  to  have  the 
power  to  fill  vacancies.  No  act  shall  be  valid  unless  forty 
be  present.  The  conference  shall  never  sit  less  than  five 
days  nor  more  than  three  weeks.  Penalties  for  absence 
are  provided,  the  power  to  expel  recognized,  conditions  of 
admission  stipulated,  and  everything  necessary  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  conference,  with  final  provision  that  if 
it  "  should  ever  be  reduced  under  the  number  of  forty 
members  and  so  continue  for  three  years  successively, 
or  if  the  members  should  decline  or  neglect  to  meet  to- 
gether annually  during  the  space  of  three  years,  the  con- 
ference of  the  people  called  Methodists  should  be  ex- 
tinguished, and  all  its  powers,  privileges,  and  advantages 
shall  cease."  The  sixteenth  and  final  provision  was  that 
"  nothing  in  the  deed  should  extinguish  or  lessen  the  life- 

1  "  Minutes  of  British  Conference,"  vol.  i.,  p.  41. 


230  THE  METJWDISTS.  [Chai-.  ix. 

estate  of  the  said  John  Wesley  or  Charles  Wesley,  or 
either  of  them,  in  any  of  the  chapels  in  which  they  now  have 
or  may  have  any  estate  or  interest,  power  or  authority, 
whatsoever." 

Thomas  Coke,  himself  a  lawyer,  had  a  prominent  part 
in  the  preparation  of  the  deed.  He  desired  Mr.  Clulow,  a 
solicitor  of  Chancery  Lane,  to  draw  a  statement  of  the  case 
of  the  chapels  as  they  then  were,  and  "  to  present  it  to  that 
very  eminent  counselor,  Mr.  Maddox,  for  his  opinion." 
Maddox  replied  that  the  law  would  not  recognize  the 
conference  in  the  state  in  which  it  stood  at  that  time,  and 
consequently  that  there  was  no  central  point  which  might 
preserve  the  connection  from  splitting  into  a  thousand 
pieces  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Wesley.  Dr.  Coke  read  this 
opinion  to  the  conference  in  1783.  As  soon  as  that  con- 
ference was  ended  Wesley  authorized  Coke  to  draw  up, 
with  the  assistance  of  Clulow,  all  the  leading  parts  of  a 
proposed  Deed  of  Declaration. 

Coke  diflfered  from  Wesley  upon  the  question  of  limit- 
ing the  number  of  the  preachers  to  one  hundred,  and  be- 
lieved that  every  preacher  in  full  connection  should  be  a 
member  of  the  conference. 

Had  the  American  colonies  failed  to  achieve  their  inde- 
pendence, for  many  years — perhaps  till  now — the  govern- 
ment of  all  the  Methodist  chapels,  remaining  in  connection 
with  the  societies  established  by  Wesley,  would  be  invested 
in  the  Yearly  Conference,  to  which  would,  no  doubt,  be 
sent  representatives  from  all  parts  of  the  British  dominion. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War  Francis 
Asbury  kept  John  Wesley  advised  of  the  progress  of 
events  in  the  United  States,  and  especially  dwelt  upon 
the  need  of  the  sacraments  ;  thousands  of  the  members  had 
not  partaken  of  the  holy  communion  for  years,  some  in- 
deed never,  and  their  children  generally  were  unbaptized. 


WESLEY  CONFERRING    WITH  COKE.  23 1 

lie  concluded,  after  protracted  reflection,  that  these  so- 
cieties should  be  organized  into  a  church  under  an  episco- 
pal form  of  government,  and  resolved  to  confer  upon  his 
preachers  in  the  United  States  authority  to  ordain  dea- 
cons and  presbyters  or  elders,  to  administer  the  sacraments, 
and  also  fo  ordain  superintendents  from  among  the  elders. 

No  single  act  or  series  of  acts  performed  by  John  Wes- 
ley exposed  him  to  such  animadversion,  or  occasioned  so 
much  discussion,  as  the  preparation  which  he  made  for  this 
momentous  change  in  American  Methodism. 

The  documents  extant  upon  this  subject  demonstrate 
the  conduct  of  Wesley  to  be  in  perfect  accord  with  his  prin- 
ciples, often  avowed  during  more  than  forty  years,  and 
never  retracted. 

What  then  did  Wesley  do,  and  what  did  he  intend  to 
accomplish  ? 

In  February,  1784,  John  Wesley  invited  Coke  into  his 
private  chamber,  and  after  some  general  conversation  ad- 
dressed him  in  nearly  the  following  manner : 

"  As  the  Revolution  in  America  had  separated  the 
United  States  from  the  mother  country  forever,  and  the 
Episcopal  establishment  was  utterly  abolished,  the  societies 
had  been  represented  to  him  in  a  most  deplorable  condi- 
tion. That  an  appeal  had  also  been  made  to  him  through 
Mr.  Asbury,  in  which  he  was  requested  to  provide  for 
them  some  mode  of  church  government  suited  to  their 
exigencies ;  and  that,  having  long  and  seriously  revolved 
the  subject  in  his  thoughts,  he  intended  to  adopt  the  plan 
which  he  was  now  about  to  unfold.  That,  as  he  had  in- 
variably endeavored  in  every  step  he  had  taken  to  keep  as 
closely  to  the  Bible  as  possible,  so  on  the  present  occasion 
he  hoped  he  was  not  about  to  deviate  from  it.  That,  keep- 
ing his  eye  upon  the  conduct  of  the  primitive  churches  in 
the  ages  of  unadulterated  Christianity,  he  had  much  ad- 


232  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  ix. 

mired  the  mode  of  ordainintj  bishops  which  the  church  of 
Alexandria  had  practiced.  That,  to  preserve  its  purity, 
that  church  would  never  suffer  the  interference  of  a  for- 
eign bishop  in  any  of  their  ordinations;  but  that  the  pres- 
byters of  that  venerable  apostolic  church,  on  the  death  of 
a  bishop,  exercised  the  right  of  ordaining  another  from 
their  own  body,  by  the  laying  on  of  their  own  hands,  and 
that  this  practice  continued  among  them  for  two  hundred 
years,  till  the  days  of  Dionysius.  And  finally,  that,  being 
himself  a  presbyter,  he  wished  Dr.  Coke  to  accept  ordi- 
nation from  his  hands,  and  to  proceed  in  that  character 
to  the  continent  of  America,  to  superintend  the  societies 
in  the  United  States."  ^ 

Drew  would  neither  have  represented  his  own  com- 
position as  a  quotation,  nor  failed  to  credit  this  passage 
to  Wesley  had  it  been  derived  from  him ;  hence  it 
must    be    Coke's    own    words. 

He  was  startled  by  a  measure  so  unprecedented  in 
modern  days,  and  expressed  doubts  as  to  the  validity  of 
Wesley's  authority.  In  the  course  of  two  months,  how- 
ever, he  wrote  the  latter  that  his  objections  were  silenced ; 
and  at  the  next  conference,  held  in  Leeds,  i  784,  Wesley 
stated  his  intentions  to  the  preachers,  which  he  records  in 
his  "Journal  "  as  follows:  "  Being  now  clear  in  my  ow-n 
mind,  I  took  a  step  which  I  had  long  weighed  in  my  mind, 
and  appointed  Mr.  Whatcoat  and  Mr.  Vasey  to  go  and 
serve  the  desolate  sheep  in  America.  Thursday,  2d,  I 
added  to  them  tliree  more,  which  I  verily  believe  will  be 
much  to  the  glory  of  God." 

When  the  conference  ended  Wesley  went  to  Bristol,  and 
Coke  to  London,  to  make  arrangements  for  his  departure  ; 
but  he  received  a  letter  from  Wesley  requesting  him  to 

1  Drew's  "  Life  of  Coke,"  pp.  63,  64. 


ORDINATIONS  BY   WESLEY.  233 

come  at  once  to  Bristol  to  receive  greater  powers,  and  to 
bring  with  him  Mr.  Creighton,  a  regularly  ordained  min- 
ister, who  had  long  assisted  Wesley  in  London  and  else- 
where. 

At  Bristol,  Wesley,  assisted  by  Coke  and  the  Rev. 
James  Creighton,  ordained  Richard  Whatcoat  and  Thomas 
Vasey  presbyters  for  America,  and  ordained  Coke  a 
superintendent,  giving  him  under  his  hand  and  seal  this 
certificate,  of  which  the  original,  in  Wesley's  handwriting, 
is  extant: 

"  To  all  to  whom  these  presents  shall  come,  John  Wes- 
ley, late  fellow  of  Lincoln  College  in  Oxford,  presbyter 
of  the  Church  of  England,  sendeth  greeting. 

"  Whereas  many  of  the  people  in  the  Southern  provinces 
of  North  America,  who  desire  to  continue  under  my  care, 
and  still  adhere  to  the  doctrines  and  discipline  of  the  Church 
of  England,  are  greatly  distressed  for  want  of  ministers  to 
administer  the  sacraments  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per according  to  the  usage  of  the  said  church  ;  and  whereas 
there  does  not  appear  to  be  any  other  way  of  supplying 
them  with  ministers ; 

"  Know  all  men,  that  I,  JoJin  Wesley,  think  myself  to 
be  providentially  called,  at  this  time,  to  set  apart  some 
persons  for  the  work  of  the  ministry  in  America.  And, 
therefore,  under  the  protection  of  Almighty  God,  and  with 
a  single  eye  to  his  glory,  I  have  this  day  set  apart  as  a 
superintendent,  by  the  imposition  of  my  hands  and  prayer 
(being  assisted  by  other  ordained  ministers),  Thomas  Coke, 
Doctor  of  Civil  Law,  a  presbyter  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  a  man  whom  I  judge  to  be  well  qualified  for  that 
great  work.  And  I  do  hereby  recommend  him  to  all  whom 
it  may  concern,  as  a  fit  person  to  preside  over  the  flock  of 
Christ.     In  testimony  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my 


234  ^-^^  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  ix. 

hand  and  seal,  this  second  day  of  September,  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-four. 

"John  Wesley."  ^ 

He  then  wrote  a  letter  intended  to  explain  the  grounds 
on  which  he  had  taken  this  step,  which  letter  he  instructed 
Coke  to  print  and  circulate  among  the  societies  upon  his 
arrival  in  America. 

"  Bristol,  September  lo,  1784. 
"  To  Dr.  Coke,  Mr.  Asbury,  and  onr  brethren  in  North 
A  inerica. 

"  By  a  very  uncommon  train  of  providences  many  of  the 
provinces  of  North  America  are  totally  disjoined  from  the 
mother  country  and  erected  into  independent  States.  The 
English  government  has  no  authority  over  them,  either 
civil  or  ecclesiastical,  any  more  than  over  the  states  of  Hol- 
land. A  civil  authority  is  exercised  over  them,  partly  by 
the  Congress,  partly  by  the  provincial  assemblies.  But  no 
one  either  exercises  or  claims  any  ecclesiastical  authority 
at  all.  In  this  peculiar  situation  some  thousands  of  the  in- 
habitants of  these  States  desire  my  advice,  and  in  compli- 
ance with  their  desire  I  have  drawn  up  a  little  sketch. 

"  Lord  King's  account  of  the  primitive  church  convinced 
me  many  years  ago  that  bishops  and  presbyters  are  the 
same  order,  and  consequently  have  the  .same  right  to  or- 
dain. For  many  years  I  have  been  importuned,  from  time 
to  time,  to  exercise  this  right  by  ordaining  part  of  our 
traveling  preachers.  But  I  have  still  refused  ;  not  only  for 
peace'  sake,  but  because  I  was  determined  as  little  as  pos- 
sible to  violate  the  established  order  of  the  national  church 
to  which  I  belonged. 

1  Drew's  "  Life  of  Coke,"  p.  66.  Facsimile  of  this  was  exhibited  at  the 
first  Ecumenical  Conference,  in  London,  1881. 


IVESLE  V  'S   EXPLANA  TOR  \ '  STA  TEMENTS.  235 

"  But  the  case  is  widely  different  between  England  and 
North  America.  Here  there  are  bishops  who  have  a  legal 
jurisdiction.  In  America  there  are  none,  neither  any 
parish  minister.  So  that  for  some  hundreds  of  miles  to- 
gether there  is  none  either  to  baptize  or  to  administer  the 
Lord's  Supper.  Here,  therefore,  my  scruples  are  at  an  end ; 
and  I  conceive  myself  at  full  liberty,  as  I  violate  no  order 
and  invade  no  man's  right  by  appointing  and  sending 
laborers  into  the  harvest. 

"  I  have  accordingly  appointed  Dr.  Coke  and  Mr.  Fran- 
cis  Asbury  to  be  joint  superintendents  over  our  brethren 
in  North  America ;  as  also  Richard  Whatcoat  and  Thomas 
Vasey  to  act  as  elders  among  them,  by  baptizing  and  ad- 
ministering the  Lord's  Supper.  And  I  have  prepared  a 
liturgy,  little  differing  from  that  of  the  Church  of  England 
(I  think  the  best  constituted  national  church  in  the  world), 
which  I  advise  all  the  traveling  preachers  to  use  on  the 
Lord's  day  in  all  the  congregations,  reading  the  Litany  only 
on  Wednesdays  and  Fridays,  and  praying  extempore  on 
all  other  days.  I  also  advise  the  elders  to  administer  the 
Supper  of  the  Lord  on  every  Lord's  day. 

"  If  any  one  will  point  out  a  more  rational  and  Scriptural 
way  of  feeding  and  guiding  these  poor  sheep  in  the  wilder- 
ness, I  will  gladly  embrace  it.  At  present  I  cannot  see 
any  better  method  than  that  I  have  taken. 

"  It  has  indeed  been  proposed  to  desire  the  English 
bishops  to*  ordain  part  of  our  preachers  for  America.  But 
to  this  I  object:  i.  I  desired  the  Bishop  of  London  to  or- 
dain one,  but  could  not  prevail.  2.  If  they  consented,  we 
know  the  slowness  of  their  proceedings ;  but  the  matter 
admits  of  no  delay.  3.  If  they  would  ordain  them  now, 
they  would  expect  to  govern  them.  And  how  grievously 
would  this  entangle  us!  4.  As  our  American  brethren 
are  now  totally  disentangled,  both  from  the  state  and  the 


236  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai>.  ix. 

English  hierarchy,  we  dare  not  entangle  them  again, 
either  with  the  one  or  the  other.  They  are  now  at  full 
liberty  simply  to  follow  the  Scriptures  and  the  primitive 
church.  And  we  judge  it  best  that  they  should  stand  fast 
in  that  liberty  wherewith  God  has  so  strangely  made  them 
free. 

"John  Wesley."  1 

Bearing  these  credentials.  Coke  and  his  companions 
sailed  for  the  United  States. 

Thirty-eight  years  before  the  ordination  of  Coke  Wesley 
wrote : 

"Monday,  20th,  1746,  January,  I  set  out  for  Bristol. 
On  the  road  I  read  over  Lord  King's  account  of  the  primi- 
tive church.  In  spite  of  the  vehement  prejudice  of  my 
education,  I  was  ready  to  believe  that  this  was  a  fair  and 
impartial  draft ;  but  if  so,  it  would  follow  that  bishops  and 
presbyters  are  (essentially)  of  one  order,  and  that  originally 
every  Christian  congregation  was  a  church  independent 
of  all  others!  "- 

Ten  years  after  this  entry  Wesley  wrote  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Clarke  :  "As  to  my  own  judgment,  I  still  believe  '  the  episco- 
pal form  of  church  government  to  be  Scriptural  and  apostolic. ' 
I  mean,  well  agreeing  with  the  practice  and  writings  of  the 
apostles.  But  that  it  is  prescribed  in  Scripture  I  do  not  be- 
lieve. This  opinion,  which  I  once  zealously  espoused,  I  have 
been  heartily  ashamed  of  ever  since  I  read  Bishop  Stilling- 
fleet's  '  Irenicon.'  I  think  he  has  unanswerably  proved  that 
'  neither  Christ  nor  his  apostles  prescribe  any  particular 
form  of  church  government;  and  that  the  plea  of  divine 
right  for  diocesan  episcopacy  was  never  heard  of  in  the 
primitive  Church.*  "^ 

1  Wesley's  "  Works,"  vol.  vii.,  pp.  311,  312. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  363.  3  Jbid.,  vol.  vii.,  p.  284. 


EVIDENCE    OF  HIS   COXSISTENCY.  237 

A  similar  reference  to  Bishop  Stillingfleet  was  made  in 
a  letter,  dated  April  18,  1761.' 

Wesley  was  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  primitive 
church,  and  constantly  attempted  to  reproduce  it. 

The  best  statement  of  his  position  is:  "  Wesley  did  not 
pretend  to  ordain  bishops  in  the  modern  sense,  but 
only  according  to  his  view  of  primitive  episcopacy,  .  .  . 
founded  upon  the  principle  of  bishops  and  presbyters  being 
of  the  same  degree,  a  more  extended  offiee  only  being  as- 
signed to  the  former,  as  in  the  primitive  church.  For, 
though  nothing  can  be  more  obvious  than  that  the  primi- 
tive pastors  are  called  bishops  or  presbyters  indiscrimi- 
nately in  the  New  Testament,  yet  at  an  early  period  those 
presbyters  were,  by  way  of  distinction,  denominated  bish- 
ops, who  presided  in  the  meetings  of  presbyters,  and  were 
finally  invested  with  the  government  of  several  churches, 
with  their  respective  presbyteries ;  so  that  two  offices  were 
then,  as  in  this  case,  grafted  upon  the  same  order."  "^ 

The  allegation  that  Wesley  was  mentally  enfeebled  by 
extreme  age  is  unfounded. 

Canon  Overton's  last  chapter  is  entitled  "  Old  Age  and 
Death,"  for  which  title  he  thus  apologizes:  "  In  ordinary 
cases  it  would  be  rather  late  to  date  the  commencement 
of  a  man's  old  age  from  his  eighty-second  year;  but  in 
this  case  we  rather  owe  him  an  apology  for  venturing  to 
call  him  an  old  man  so  soon.  He  was  still  a  youth,  both 
in  mind  and  body."^  And  though  utterly  opposed  to 
Wesley's  action,  he  has  the  candor  to  say,  "  It  has  been 
said  that  John  Wesley's  mental  powers  were  failing  when 
he  began  to  '  set  apart '  his  preachers  ;  and  Charles  Wesley 
himself  has  countenanced  the  idea  by  exclaiming,  '  'Twas 

1  Wesley's  "  Works,"  vol.  vii.,  p.  301. 

2  Watson's  "  Life  of  Wesley,"  p.  247. 
*  Overton's  "John  Wesley,"  p.  193. 


238  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai-.  ix. 

age  that  made  the  breach,  not  he ! '  But  there  really 
appear  to  be  no  traces  of  mental  decay  in  any  other 
respects."  ^ 

The  simple  fact  is  that  for  more  than  forty  years  Wesley 
held  the  views  upon  which  he  now  acted.  He  had  not, 
however,  applied  them  in  England,  for  almost,  perhaps 
quite  to  the  last,  he  hoped  that  English  Methodism  would 
be  recognized  by  the  Church  of  England,  in  a  manner 
compatible  with  its  continued  existence  and  growth,  as  a 
revival  of  pure  Christianity. 

The  voyage  of  Coke  and  his  companions  was  tem- 
pestuous, but  their  course  on  shipboard  resembled  that 
of  Wesley  in  his  journey  to  Georgia  many  years  before. 
They  set  apart  a  given  hour  for  morning  prayers,  which 
the  sailors  attended,  and  on  successive  Sundays  dis- 
courses were  preached,  which  were  listened  to  with  earnest 
attention. 

They  landed  in  New  York  on  the  3d  of  November,  and 
repaired  to  the  residence  of  a  trustee  of  the  John  Street 
Church.  John  Dickins,  the  pastor,  who  had  been  strenu- 
ous in  demanding  the  right  to  administer  the  sacraments, 
was  delighted  with  the  purpose  of  their  coming.  The 
same  night  and  for  several  successive  days  Coke  preached, 
and  then  went  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  was  invited 
to  preach  in  the  English  churches,  receiving  call."^,  among 
others  from  Dr.  White,  afterward  bishop  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  and  also  from  the  governor  of  the  State, 
whom  Coke  describes  as  a  "  gentlemanly  friend  to  lit- 
erature, toleration,  and  to  vital  Christianity,"  and  "  an 
acquaintance  of  Wesley,  and  an  admirer  of  the  writings  of 
Fletcher  of  Madeley." 

In  Delaware  Coke  was  the  guest  of  Judge  Bassett,  who, 
though  not  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Society,  was  erect- 

1  Overton's  "  John  Wesley,"  p.  206. 


FIRST  MEETING    OF   COKE   AND   ASBURY.  239 

ing  a  chapel  at  his  own  expense.  On  Sunday,  the  14th, 
at  Judge  Bassett's,  he  met  Freeborn  Garrettson,  and  re- 
paired to  a  chapel  in  the  midst  of  a  forest,  finding  a  great 
concourse  of  people,  to  whom  he  preached,  afterward 
administering  the  "  Supper  of  the  Lord"  to  more  than 
five  hundred.  It  was  a  Quarterly  Meeting,  and  fifteen 
preachers  were  present. 

Drew's  description  of  what  occurred  after  the  sermon  is 
this:  "  Scarcely,  however,  had  he  finished  his  sermon  be- 
fore he  perceived  a  plainly  dressed,  robust,  but  venerable- 
looking  man  moving  through  the  congregation  and  making 
his  way  to  the  pulpit ;  on  ascending  the  pulpit,  he  clasped 
the  doctor  in  his  arms,  and,  without  making  himself  known 
by  words,  accosted  him  with  the  holy  salutation  of  primi- 
tive Christianity.     This  venerable  man  was  Mr.  Asbury,"  ^ 

These  were  Asbury's  impressions  of  the  interview : 
"  Having  had  no  opportunity  of  conversing  with  them  be- 
fore public  worship,  I  was  greatly  surprised  to  see  Brother 
Whatcoat  assist  by  taking  the  cup  in  the  administration 
of  the  sacrament.  I  was  shocked  when  first  informed  of 
the  intention  of  these  my  brethren  in  coming  to  this  coun- 
try ;  it  may  be  of  God.  My  answer  then  was,  if  the  preach- 
ers unanimously  choose  me,  I  shall  not  act  in  the  capacity 
I  have  hitherto  done  by  Mr.  Wesley's  appointment.  ^Jh&^ 
design  of  organizing  the  Methodists^.intp_an  Independent 
Episcopal  Church  was  opened  to  the  preachers  present, 
and  it  was  agreed  to  call  a  general  conference,  to  meet  at 
Baltimore  the  ensuing  Christmas."  ^ 

Freeborn  Garrettson  was  sent  "  like  an  arrow  over  North 
and  South,"  with  instructions  to  send  messengers  to  right 
and  left,  and  gather  all  the  preachers  in  Baltimore  on  Christ- 
mas eve.  Asbury  drew  up  for  Coke  a  route  of  about  a 
thousand  miles,  to  be  traversed  in  the  six  weeks  intervene 
1  "  Life  of  Coke."  2  "  Asbury's  Journal,"  vol.  i.,  p.  484. 


240  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  ix. 

ing,  "  appropriated  an  excellent  horse  to  him,  and  gave 
him  his  black,  Harry  by  name."  The  full  name  of  this 
brother  of  African  descent  was  Harry  Hosier.  Asbury 
had  found  him  serviceable  to  himself  in  many  ways,  and 
specially  useful  by  his  addresses  to  those  of  his  own  race. 

At  this  their  first  interview  Coke  and  Asbury  agreed 
to  unite  their  endeavors  to  establish  "  a  school  or  college." 

Coke  traveled  from  Barrett's  Chapel  to  the  residence  of 
Judge  White,  preaching  every  day.  He  utilized  "  Harry  " 
as  a  preacher,  and  writes  that  he  "  really  believes  him  one 
of  the  best  preachers  in  the  world."  In  this  opinion  he 
agreed  with  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  who  said,  "  that,  making 
allowance  for  his  illiteracy  (he  was  unable  to  read),  he  was 
the  greatest  orator  in  America." 

Thomas  Ware  remarks  of  Coke  that  he  "  was  the  best 
speaker  in  a  private  circle  or  on  the  conference  floor 
he  ever  heard,  but  his  voice  was  too  weak  to  command 
with  ease  a  very  large  audience.  Scholarly  men  were  de- 
lighted with  him,  and  said  that  he  spoke  the  purest  Eng- 
lish they  ever  heard." 

Asbury  continued  his  journeys  over  the  Western  Shore 
of  Maryland,  accompanied  by  Whatcoat  and  Vasey.  At 
Abingdon  they  met  Coke,  and  also  William  Black,  the 
founder  of  Methodism  in  Nova  Scotia,  who  was  looking 
for  ministerial  help  for  that  province.  They  arrived  at 
Perry  Hall  on  the  iith  of  December,  with  the  exception 
of  Whatcoat,  who  came  three  days-  later.  Oix  Friday, 
W  the  24th  of  December,  1784,  the  guests  of  Perry  Hall  rode 
into  Baltimore.^ 

Garrettson  had  been  so  successful  in  notifying  the 
preachers  of  the  coming  conference  and  its  purpose  that 

1  Discrepancies  concerning  tlie  date  of  this  important  event  are  numerous. 
Bangs  and  Wakeley  say  the  25th,  Lee  the  27th.  and  Asbury,  Coke,  and 
Whatcoat  the  24th. 


ORDINATION  OF  ASBURY.  24 1 

sixty  were  present.  Wesley's  letter  having  been  solemnly 
read,  Asbury  records :  "  It  was  agreed  to  form  ourselves 
into  an  Episcopal  Church,  and  to  have  superintendents, 
elders,  and  deacons."  ' 

Lee  says  that,  tht5ugh  Asbury  was  appointed  a  superin- 
tendent by  Wesley,  "  he  would  not  submit  to  be  ordained 
unless  he  could  be  voted  in  by  the  conference ;  when  it 
was  put  to  vote  he  was  unanimously  chosen."  Thomas 
Coke  was  also  unanimously  elected  a  superintendent. 

Whatcoat's  account  is:  "JWe  agreed  to  form  a  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  in  tvJiich  the  liturgy  (as  presented 
by  the  Rev.  John  Wesley)  should  be  read,  and  the  sacra- 
ments be  administered  by  a  superintendent,  elders,  and 
deacons,  who  shall  be  ordained  by  a  presbytery,  using  the 
Episcopal  form,  as  prescribed  in  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wesley's 
prayer-book.  Persons  to  be  ordained  are  to  be  named  by 
the  superintendent,  elected  by  the  conference,  and  ordained 
by  the  imposition  of  the  hand  of  the  superintendent  and 
elders;  the  snperinteiideut  has  a  negative  voice. "  ^ 

Asbury  was  ordained  deacon  by  Coke,  assisted  by  Vasey 
and  Whatcoat,  on  the  second  day  of  the  conference.  On 
Sunday  he  was  ordained  an  elder,  and  on  Monday  conse- 
crated superintendent.  Atliisrequest  Philip  William  Ot- 
terbein,  of  the  German  church,  assisted  in  the  ordination. 

The  discourse  preached  by  Coke  on  the  occasion  of  the 
ordination  of  Asbury  kindled  the  most  lively  emotions 
among  the  Methodists  present,  and  deeply  impressed  the 
multitude.  Several  deacons  were  ordained  on  Friday,  and 
on  Sunday,  the  2d  of  January,  twelve  or  thirteen  elders. 

The  first  Disciplinje  q£jthe  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
was  adopted  by  this  conference.  "This  was  substantially 
the  same  with  the  Large  Minutes,  the  principal  alterations 

1  Italics  Whatcoat's.     Phcebus's  "  Memoirs  of  Whatcoat,"  p.  21. 


242  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  ix. 

being  only  such  as  were  necessary  to  adapt  it  to  the  state 
of  things  in  America."  ^ 

The  second  and  other  important  questions  are  here 
printed  in  full : 

"  Qncs.   2.    What  can  be  done    in  order  to  the  future 
union  of  the  Methodists? 
/  "  Aus.   During  the  life  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wesley,  we  ac- 

knowledge ourselves  his  sons  in  the  gospel,  ready  in  matters 
belonging  to  church  government  to  obey  his  commands. 
And  we  do  engage,  after  his  death,  to  do  everything  that 
we  judge  consistent  with  the  cause  of  religion  in  America 
and  the  political  interests  of  these  States  to  preserve  and 
promote  our  union  with  the  Methodists  in  Europe. 

"  Ques.  3.  As  the  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  civil  affairs  of 
these  United  States  have  passed  through  a  very  consider- 
able change  by  the  Revolution,  what  plan  of  church  gov- 
ernment shall  we  hereafter  pursue? 

"  A/is.    We  will  form  ourselves  into  an  Episcopal  Church, 

under  the  direction  of  superintendents,  elders,  deacons,  and 

ly  helpers,  according  to  the  forms  of  ordination  annexed  to 

our  liturgy,  and  the  Form  of  Discipline  set  forth  in  these 

minutes." 

"  Ques.  23.  May  our  ministers  or  traveling  preachers 
drink  spirituous  liquors? 

"Alls.   By  no  means,  unless  it  be  medicinally." 

"  Ques.  26.   What  is  the  office  of  a  superintendent? 

"  Ans.  To  ordain  superintendents,  elders,  and  deacons; 
to  preside  as  a  moderator  in  our  conferences ;  to  fix  the 
appointments  of  the  preachers  for  the  several  circuits,  and, 
in  the  intervals  of  the  conference,  to  change,  receive,  or 
suspend  preachers,  as  necessity  may  require ;  and  to  re- 
ceive appeals  from  the  preachers  and  people,  and  decide 
them. 

1  Robert  Emory's  "  History  of  the  Discipline,''  p.  25. 


y 


FIRST  DISCIPLINE   OF   THE   CHURCH.  243 

"  Qiies.  27.  To  whom  is  the  superintendent  amenable 
for  his  conduct  ? 

"  Ans.  To  the  conference,  who  have  power  to  expel  him 
for  improper  conduct  if  they  see  it  necessary. 

"  Ques.  28.  If  the  superintendent  ceases  from  traveling 
at  large  among  the  people,  shall  he  still  exercise  his  office 
in  any  degree  ? 

"Ans.  If  he  ceases  from  traveling  without  the  consent 
of  the  conference  he  shall  not  thereafter  exercise  any  min- 
isterial function  whatsoever  in  our  church. 

"  Q//es.  29.  If  by  death,  expulsion,  or  otherwise,  there 
be  no  superintendent  remaining  in  our  church,  what  shall 
we  do? 

"  Afis.  The  conference  shall  elect  a  superintendent,  and 
the  elders,  or  any  three  of  them,  shall  ordain  him  according 
to  our  liturgy. 

"  Ques.  30.   What  is  the  office  of  an  elder? 

"  A  us.  To  administer  the  sacraments  of  baptism  and  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  to  perform  all  the  other  rites  prescribed 
by  our  liturgy. 

"  Q?ics.  31.   What  is  the  office  of  a  deacon? 

"Ans.  To  baptize  in  the  absence  of  an  elder,  to  assist 
the  elder  in  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  to 
marry,  bury  the  dead,  and  read  the  Liturgy  to  the  people 
as  prescribed,  except  what  relates  to  the  administration  of 
the  Lord's  Supper." 

"  N.B.  to  Ques.  33.  No  helper,  or  even  deacon,  shall,  on 
any  pretense,  at  any  time  whatsoever,  administer  the  Lord's 
Supper." 

"  Ques.  35.  How  are  we  to  proceed  with  those  elders  or 
deacons  who  cease  from  traveling? 

"  Ans.  Unless  they  have  the  permission  of  the  confer- 
ence, declared  under  the  hand  of  a  superintendent,  they 
are  on  no  account  to  exercise  any  of  the  peculiar  functions 


244  ^'^^^"  ^^!ETHODISTS.  [Chap.  i.\. 

of  those  offices  among  us.  And  if  they  do  they  are  to  be 
expelled  immediately. 

"  Ques.  36.  What  method  shall  we  take  to  prevent 
improper  persons  from  preaching  among  us  as  traveling 
preachers  ? 

"  Ans.  Let  no  person  be  employed  as  a  traveling  preacher 
unless  his  name  be  printed  in  the  minutes  of  the  confer- 
ence preceding,  or  a  certificate  be  given  him  under  the 
hand  of  one  or  other  of  the  superintendents,  or,  in  their 
absence,  of  three  assistants,  as  is  hereafter  provided.  And 
for  this  purpose  let  the  minutes  of  the  conference  be  al- 
ways printed." 

The  answer  to  question  42  comprised  an  elaborate  plan 
to  "extirpate  the  abomination  of  slavery."  It  required 
each  member,  within  twelve  months  after  notice  given 
to  him  by  the  assistants  (which  notice  the  assistants  were 
required  to  give  immediately),  to  execute  legally  and 
record  an  instrument  "setting  free  every  slave  between 
the  ages  of  forty  and  forty-five  immediately,  or  at  the  fur- 
thest" when  they  reach  the  age  of  forty- five;  every  slave 
between  twenty-five  and  forty  immediately,  or  at  the 
furthest  at  the  expiration  of  five  years ;  and  every  one  be- 
tween the  ages  of  twenty  and  twenty-five  immediately,  or 
at  the  furthe.-t  when  they  arrive  at  the  age  of  thirty ;  and 
every  slave  under  the  age  of  twenty  as  soon  as  they  arrive 
at  the  age  of  twenty-five" :  and  it  also  ordered  that  every 
infant,  born  after  the  afore-mentioned  rules  are  complied 
with,  should  immediately  be  emancipated. 

Assistants  were  required  to  keep  a  journal  contain- 
ing names  and  ages  of  all  slaves,  and  the  dates  of  in- 
struments of  manumission,  with  the  name  of  the  court  book 
and  folio  in  which  these  were  recorded,  "  which  journal 
shall  be  handed  down  in  each  circuit  to  the  succeeding 
assistants." 


IMPORTANT  PROVISIONS.  245 

This  plan  further  provided  that,  as  these  rules  formed  a 
new  term  of  communion,  all  who  would  not  conform 
should  have  liberty  quietly  to  withdraw  within  twelve 
months  after  the  notice ;  but  if  they  neither  complied  nor 
withdrew  they  were  to  be  excluded ;  and  any  member 
who  withdrew  voluntarily  or  was  excluded  should  never 
partake  of  the  Supper  of  the  Lord  until  he  obeyed.  Nor 
should  any  slave-holder  be  admitted  into  the  Society  or  to 
the  Lord's  Supper  until  he  had  complied  with  these  rules. 

Two  remarkable  postscripts,  however,  were  added : 

"  N.B.  These  rules  are  to  affect  the  members  of  our  So- 
ciety no  further  than  as  they  are  consistent  with  the  laws 
of  the  States  in  which  they  reside. 

"  And,  respecting  our  brethren  in  Virginia  that  are  con- 
cerned, and  after  due  consideration  of  their  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances, we  allow  them  two  years  from  the  notice  given, 
to  consider  the  expedience  of  compliance  or  non-compli- 
ance with  these  rules." 

"  Qncs.  43.  What  shall  be  done  with  those  who  buy  or 
sell  slaves,  or  give  them  away  ? 

"  Alls.  They  are  immediately  to  be  expelled,  unless  they 
buy  them  on  purpose  to  free  them." 

"  Qiies.  45.  Is  there  any  direction  to  be  given  concern- 
ing the  administration  of  baptism  ? 

"  Alls.  Let  every  adult  person,  and  the  parents  of  every 
child  to  be  baptized,  have  their  choice  either  of  immersion 
or  sprinkling,  and  let  the  elder  or  deacon  conduct  himself 
accordingly." 

"  Qiies.  65.  What  shall  we  do  with  those  members  of 
our  Society  who  willfully  and  repeatedly  neglect  to  meet 
their  class? 

''Alls,  (i)  Let  the  assistant  or  one  of  his  helpers  visit 
them,  wherever  it  is  practicable,  and  explain  to  them  the 
consequence  if  they  continue  to  neglect,  namely,  exclusion. 


246  THE   METllODISrS.  [Chap.  ix. 

(2)  If  they  do  not  amend  let  the  assistant  exckide  them 
in  the  Society,  informing  it  that  they  are  laid  aside  for  a 
breach  of  our  rules  of  Discipline,  and  not  for  immoral  con- 
duct." 

These  were  the  principal  provisions  added  to  the  min- 
utes to  adapt  them  to  the  enlarged  work  of  a  church  as 
distinguished  from  a  society,  and  to  the  situation  in  the 
United  States. 

It  should  be  observed  that  the  new  church  was  estab- 
lished on  a  liturgical  basis.  "  The  Sunday  Service  of  the 
Methodists  in  North  America,"  sent  over  by  Wesley,  was 
adopted  by  the  conference  which  formed  the  church,  and 
ordered  to  be  read.  It  included  a  form  of  public  prayer, 
the  form  and  manner  of  making  and  ordaining  super- 
intendents and  elders  and  deacons,  and  the  twenty-four 
Articles  of  Religion.  In  pursuance  of  this  order,  the 
liturgy  was  used  in  the  principal  churches  in  city  and 
country,  and  gowns  and  bands  were  used  by  superin- 
tendents and   elders. 

Methodists  who  had  been  reared  in  the  Church  of 
England  were  inclined  to  the  use  of  the  Prayer-book,  but 
a  large  majority  of  the  members,  consisting  of  those 
who  had  had  no  education  in  liturgical  forms,  exhibited 
dislike  for  them.  "  For  some  time,"  says  Lee,  "  the  preach- 
ers generally  read  prayers  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  in  some 
cases  the  preachers  read  part  of  the  morning  service  on 
Wednesdays  and  Fridays ;  but  some  who  had  been  long- 
accustomed  to  pray  extempore  were  unwilling  to  adopt 
this  new  plan,  being  fully  satisfied  that  they  could  pra\- 
better  and  with  more  devotion  while  their  eyes  were  shut 
than  they  could  with  their  eyes  open.  Aite^a Jew_years 
the  Prayer-book  was  laid  aside,  and  has  never  been  used 
since  in  public  worship."  ^ 

1  Lee's  "  History  of  the  Methodists,"  p.  107. 


LITURGY  AND  DOCTRINAL  STANDARDS.  247 

Extra  services  on  the  Sabbath,  especially  love-feasts, 
frequently  consumed  time  needed  for  the  liturgy,  so  that 
it  gradually  fell  into  disuse.  Wesley's  Sunday  service, 
though  mentioned  occasionally  in  successive  Disciplines 
until  1792,  is  not  officially  referred  to  after  that  date.i 

He  reduced  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  of  the  Church  of 
England  to  twenty-four,  and  this  concerning  the  rulers 
of  the  United  States  of  America  was  added  by  the  Christ- 
mas conference :  "  The  President,  the  Congress,  the  Gen- 
eral Assemblies,  the  Governors,  and  the  Councils  of  State, 
as  tJie  Delegates  of  the  People,  are  the  Rulers  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  according  to  the  division  of  power 
made  to  them  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  by  the  Constitutions  of  their  respective  States.  And 
the  said  States  are  a  sovereign  and  independent  Nation, 
and  ought  not  to  be  subject  to  any  foreign  jurisdiction." 

Wesley  omitted  the  3d,  8th,  13th,  15th,  17th,  1 8th,  20th, 
2ist,  23d,  26th,  29th,  33d,  34th,  and  37th  articles  of  the 
Church  of  England.  Some  of  the  others  were  merely 
changed  in  phraseology  or  in  unimportant  points,  but 
others  to  such  an  extent  as  to  convey  a  meaning  radically 
different ;  for  instance,  in  the  1 2th  article  justification  is  sub- 
stituted for  baptism.  Bishop  Harris  observes:  "  By  these 
omissions  and  changes  all  traces  of  Calvinism,  Romanism, 
and  ritualism  were  eliminated.  The  Articles  of  Religion  are 
therefore  specially  and  strictly  Arminian  in  all  points  which 
distinguish  evangelical  Arminianism  from  Calvinism."  2 
It  has  often  been  remarked  that  they  contain  no  state- 
ment of  the  doctrines  which  Wesley  emphasized,  nota- 
bly that  of  the  witness  of  the  Spirit  and  that  of  Chris- 
tian perfection.  The  American  Methodists,  however,  from 
the    beginning,    expressly    adopted    the    "  Minutes "   and 

^  Emory's  "  History  of  the  Discipline,"  p.  80. 

2  "  People's  Cyclopedia,"  "  Methodism  "  (Hunt  &  Eaton). 


I^ 


248  '^'IJfE  METHODISTS.  [Chai'.  ix. 

Wesley's  "  Notes  on  the  New  Testament "  as  standards,  and 
repeatedly  acknowledged  them  during  the  lifetime  of  Wes- 
ley and  on  all  suitable  occasions  since  his  death. 

Freeborn  Garrettson  and  James  O.  Cromwell  were  or- 
dained as  missionaries  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  Jeremiah  Lam- 
bert was  ordained  for  Antigua,  in  the  West  Indies. 

The  organization  of  the  church  met  with  universal  ap- 
proval among  Methodists,  and  was  regarded  favorably  by 
the  general  public,  although  some  communicants  of  the 
English  church  withdrew  their  sympathy  and  attendance, 
and  "  Jarratt  could  not  sacrifice  his  churchly  prejudices  for 
the  new  and  providential  order  of  things." 

During  the  conference  Coke  preached  every  day  at 
noon,  and  some  of  the  other  preachers  morning  and 
evening. 


CHAPTER  X. 

FROM  THE    ORDINATION    OF  ASBURY  TO   THE   DEATH 
OF  WESLEY. 

The  first  Sunday  after  the  adjournment  of  the  confer- 
ence Asbury  read  prayers,  preached,  baptized  children,  and 
ordained  Henry  Willis  deacon,  and  two  days  later  elder. 
Asbury  writes:  "  Nothing  could  have  better  pleased  our 
old  church  folks  than  the  late  step  we  have  taken  in  ad- 
ministering the  ordinances.  To  the  catholic  Presbyterians 
it  also  gives  satisfaction,  but  the  Baptists  are  discontented." 
This  entry  relates  to  members  of  those  bodies  who  had  af- 
filiated with  the  Methodists.  So  long  as  the  Methodists 
did  not  administer  the  ordinances,  neither  the  mode  nor  the 
subjects  of  baptism  was  a  living  question. 

Asbury  pursued  his  journey  to  Charleston,  S.  C,  where 
on  Sunday,  the  27th  of  February,  1785,  he  heard  Jesse 
Lee  preach  the  first  Methodist  sermon  delivered  in  that 
place  with  the  view  of  establishing  regular  preaching.  So 
hopeful  was  the  aspect  of  afifairs  that  Willis  was  stationed 
there,  and  soon  formed  a  society. 

Coke  traveled  incessantly.  At  Abingdon  he  gave  orders 
that  the  materials  for  the  erection  of  the  college  which  the 
late  Conference  had  decided  to  establish  at  that  place  be 
procured  at  once.  He  spent  ten  days  in  Philadelphia,  and 
in  New  York  three  weeks,  preaching,  superintending  the 

249 


250  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  x. 

publication  of  his  sermons,  and  collecting  money  for  the  new 
missions  in  Nova  Scotia.  Later  he  traversed  Delaware.  In 
Baltimore  he  induced  the  people  to  subscribe  five  hundred 
pounds  sterling  to  build  a  new  church.  Having  a  consid- 
erable private  fortune,  he  was  able  to  relieve  the  needy 
and  to  assist  enterprises  which  he  established  or  desired  to 
promote.  His  liberality,  however,  surpassed  his  a\"ailable 
means,  and  his  "  Journal  "  states  that  when  he  arrived  at 
Portsmouth,  Va.,  on  the  15th  of  March,  he  had  less  than 
a  dollar. 

At  Kingston,  N.  C,  Asbury  was  entertained  by  the 
governor  of  the  State ;  here  he  met  Coke  and  held  a  con- 
ference. The  Rev.  Devereux  Jarratt  owned  twenty-four 
negroes,  and  was  much  exercised  by  the  rule  against 
slavery.  In  fact,  all  through  Virginia  disputes  arose  over 
this  rule.  Coke  and  a  certain  colonel  had  a  discussion  upon 
the  topic,  and  the  latter  uttered  threats  against  the  preach- 
ers. James  O'Kelly  on  the  next  day  delivered  a  power- 
ful speech,  which  made  the  people  very  angry. 

Coke's  account  of  this  incident  is  graphic.  While  he  was 
preaching  against  slave-holding  several  retired  to  combine 
to  flog  him.  Asbury  congratulates  himself  that  "  they  came 
ofT  with  whole  bones." 

In  another  place  a  mob  came  with  staves  and  clubs  to 
meet  him.  Many  of  the  members  of  the  Society,  however, 
emancipated  their  slaves  ;  one  fifteen,  and  another  twenty- 
one.  Coke  remarks :  "  These  are  great  sacrifices,  for  the 
slaves  are  worth,  I  suppose,  upon  an  average,  thirty  or 
forty  pounds  sterling  each,  perhaps  more."  When  he 
reached  North  Carolina  he  said,  "  I  am  now  done  with  my 
testimony  for  a  time,  the  laws  of  this  State  forbidding  any 
to  emancipate  the  negroes." 

To  each  preacher  was  given  a  petition,  for  his  own  and 
other  signatures,  entreating  the  General  Assembly  of  Vir- 


THE   SLAVE    QUESTION.  25  I 

ginia  to  pass  a  law  for  the  immediate  or  gradual  emanci- 
pation of  the  slaves.  Coke  and  Asbury,  by  appointment, 
waited  on  General  Washington  at  Mount  Vernon.  Coke 
thus  describes  the  visit :  "  He  received  us  very  politely, 
and  was  very  open  to  access.  He  is  quite  the  plain 
country  gentleman.  After  dinner  we  desired  a  private 
interview,  and  opened  to  him  the  grand  business  on  which 
we  came,  presenting  to  him  our  petition  for  the  emancipa- 
tion of  the  negroes,  and  entreating  his  signature,  if  the  emi- 
nence of  his  station  did  not  render  it  inexpedient  for  him 
to  sign  any  petition.  He  informed  us  that  he  was  of  our 
sentiments,  and  had  signified  his  thoughts  on  the  subject 
to  most  of  the  great  men  of  the  State ;  that  he  did  not 
think  it  proper  to  sign  the  petition,  but  if  the  Assembly 
took  it  into  consideration  would  signify  his  sentiments  to 
the  Assembly  by  a  letter.  He  asked  us  to  spend  the 
evening  and  lodge  at  his  house,  but  our  engagements  at 
Annapolis  the  following  day  would  not  admit  of  it."i 

The  conference  assembled  in  Baltimore  on  June  ist. 
Coke  preached  at  noon  on  "  Ministerial  Faithfulness,"  and, 
as  he  was  to  sail  for  Europe  the  next  day,  they  sat  till 
midnight.  Early  the  next  morning  he  delivered  a  farewell 
discourse  on  *'  St.  Paul's  Awful  Exhortation  to  the  Elders 
of  the  Church  at  Ephesus." 

Asbury,  the  next  Sunday  after  adjournment  of  the  con- 
ference, preached  a  sermon  at  Abingdon  on  the  occasion 
of  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  Cokesbury  College, 
after  which  he  resumed  his  journeys,  but  was  for  several 
months  extremely  ill.  In  part  because  of  his  health,  and 
in  large  part  because  they  thought  the  dignity  of  a  bishop 
required  it,  his  friends  induced  him  to  purchase  a  carriage  ; 
but  he  thought  it  ostentatious,  and  bought  a  "  second- 
hand sulky,"  leaving  the  carriage  to  be  sold. 
1  "  Coke's  Journal,"  p.  45. 


252  THE   METHODISTS.  [CiiAl-.  x. 

In  England  Coke  met  with  an  unpleasant  reception  from 
Wesley.  Charles  Wesley  had  charged  him  with  speaking 
evdl  of  the  constitution  of  his  country,  and  with  misrepre- 
senting the  sentiments  of  John  and  Charles  Wesley,  and  he 
acknowledged  that  in  one  of  his  sermons  in  Baltimore  he 
had  used  imprudently  severe  language.  John  Wesley  was 
entirely  satisfied,  and  said  to  his  brother,  "  I  believe  Dr.  Coke 
is  as  free  from  ambition  as  from  covetousness,  and  has  done 
nothing  wrongly  that  I  know,  but  he  has  spoken  wrongly, 
which  he  retracted  the  moment  I  spoke  to  him  about  it. 
If  you  cannot  or  will  not  help  me  yourself,  do  not  hinder 
those  who  can  and  will." 

Coke  sailed  for  Nova  Scotia  on  the  24th  of  September, 
I  786,  accompanied  by  three  preachers  whom  Wesley  had 
commissioned  to  reinforce  Garrettson  and  his  colleagues. 
The  voyage  was  of  unparalleled  severity  ;  they  were  b]own 
hundreds  of  miles  out  of  their  course,  and  landed  on  the 
island  of  Antigua,  in  the  West  Indies,  remaining  there  until 
February  10,  1787.  On  that  date  Coke  sailed  for  Charles- 
ton, S.  C,  where  he  met  Asbury,  and  dedicated  the  new 
Methodist  chapel,  which  accommodated  fifteen  hundred. 
In  this  they  held  the  first  conference  ever  convened  in 
South  Carolina.  The  church  had  but  forty  white  members, 
yet  they  had  built  an  edifice  worth  a  thousand  pounds 
sterling.  The  conference  ended,  Asbury  and  Coke  rode 
on  horseback  at  the  rate  of  three  hundred  miles  a  week, 
preaching  every  day.  In  regions  where  Coke  had  been 
persecuted  for  his  antislavery  sentiments  he  was  received 
in  peace,  some  of  his  most  violent  opponents  having  be- 
come members  of  the  Society. 

The  conferences  held  in  1 786  showed  nearly  20,000 
members  and  1 1  7  ministers.  There  were  about  60  chapels, 
but  the  congregations  were  often  far  beyond  their  capacity. 
Huge  barns  were  thrown  open  for  the  preachers,  but  even 


COKE'S  DIFFICULTIES.  253 

those  would  not  accommodate  the  multitudes.  It  has  been 
estimated  that  there  were  then  more  than  200,000  habitual 
attendants  upon  Methodist  worship. 

In  Mecklenburg  County,  Virginia,  Coke  preached  to 
about  four  thousand,  which  he  describes  as  the  largest 
congregation  he  had  seen  in  America,  "  though  there 
was  no  town  within  a  great  many  miles." 

A  conference  had  been  appointed  for  Abingdon,  Md., 
July  24th.  But  to  accommodate  Coke  its  place  and  date 
had  been  changed,  and  on  the  ist  of  May  it  assembled 
at  Baltimore,  where  took  place  an  extraordinary  discus- 
sion, indicating  the  independence  of  the  early  ministers 
of  the  church,  and  their  opposition  to  the  exercise  of 
doubtful  or  illegal  episcopal  power.  Coke  was  complained 
of  by  the  preachers  "  because  he  had  taken  upon  himself  a 
right  which  they  never  gave  him,  of  altering  the  time  and 
place  of  holding  our  conference,  after  it  had  been  settled 
and  fixed  on  at  the  previous  conference."  ^  Another  com- 
plaint was  also  brought  against  him  for  writing  to  some  of 
the  preachers  improper  letters,  calculated  to  stir  up  strife 
and  contention.  Lee  states  that  the  preachers  were  pretty 
generally  united  against  him,  that  he  acknowledged  his 
faults,  begged  pardon,  and  promised  not  to  meddle  with 
their  affairs  when  he  was  out  of  the  United  States. 

Coke's  version  of  the  settlement  is:  "We  mutually 
yielded  and  mutually  submitted,  and  the  silken  cords  of 
love  and  affection  were  tied  to  the  horns  of  the  altar  for 
ever  and  ever."  Asbury  disposed  of  it  in  a  single  sentence  : 
"  We  had  some  warm  and  close  debates  in  conference,  but 
all  ended  in  love  and  peace." 

The  following  certificate,  witnessed  by  three  of  the 
preachers,  reveals  the  gravity  of  the  issue: 

1  Lee's  "  History  of  the  Methodists,"  p.  125. 


254  ^'-^^-^  METHODJSrS.  [Chap.  x. 

"  I  do  solemnly  engage  by  this  instrument  that  I  never 
will,  by  virtue  of  my  office  as  superintendent  of  the  Meth- 
odist Church,  exercise  any  government  whatever  in  said 
Methodist  Church  during  my  absence  from  the  United 
States.  And  I  do  also  engage,  that  I  will  exercise  no  priv- 
ilege in  the  said  church  when  present  in  the  United  Stales, 
except  that  of  ordaining  according  to  the  regulations  and 
law  already  existing  or  hereafter  to  be  made  in  the  said 
church,  and  that  of  presiding  when  present  in  conference, 
and,  lastly,  that  of  traveling  at  large.  Given  under  my 
hand,  the  second  day  of  May,  in  the  year  1787. 

"Thomas  Coke." 

On  this  basis  the  conference  agreed  to  overlook  every- 
thing that  had  been  done  contrary  to  its  judgment,  provided 
the  condition  should  be  expressed  in  the  minutes,  which 
was  done  in  these  words : 

" Qnes.  Who  are  the  superintendents  of  our  church  for 
the  United  States? 

"  Ans.  Thomas  Coke  {zvhen  present  in  the  States)  and 
Francis  Asbury." 

Asbury  preached,  organized,  and  administered  the  sac- 
raments through  Long  Island,  returning  later  to  New  York  ; 
and  after  traveling  thousands  of  miles  through  the  Middle 
and  Southern  States,  the  closing  days  of  1787  found  him 
at  Lancaster,  Va. 

The  complete  report  of  the  state  of  the  denomination 
at  the  close  of  the  year  showed  133  ministers  and  21,949 
white  and  3893  colored  members;  35  preachers  had  been 
admitted  on  trial.  Six  conferences  were  appointed  for  the 
coming  year. 

The  relations  of  the  American  Methodists  to  Wesley 
were  adjusted  in  a  way  which  at  first  was  offensive  to  the 
founder  of  Methodism.      At  the  Baltimore  Conference  it 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS    WITH   WESLEY.  255 

was  proposed  that  Garrettson  be  elected  and  ordained  as 
'"*  superintendent  over  the  societies  in  Nova  Scotia  and  the 
West  Indies."  This  proposition  was  made  in  compliance 
with  the  express  wishes  of  Wesley  and  Coke,  and  was  de- 
sired by  most  of  the  preachers  in  Nova  Scotia;  but  the 
arrangement  was  not  made.  Bangs,  who  obtained  his 
information  direct  from  Garrettson,^  represents  that  Gar- 
rettson objected  to  be  ordained  until  he  should  have  visited 
the  brethren  in  Nova  Scotia  for  one  year,  that  Coke  was 
satisfied  with  this,  and  there  the  business  ended ;  but,  for 
some  unexplained  reason,  Garrettson  was  appointed  pre- 
siding elder  on  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland. 

Wesley  had  also  proposed  that  Whatcoat  should  be  ap- 
pointed joint  superintendent  with  Asbury,  but  most  of 
the  preachers  declined  to  consent  to  it,  on  two  grounds : 
"  First,  that  Richard  Whatcoat  was  not  qualified  to  take 
charge  of  the  connection ;  second,  that  they  were  appre- 
hensive that  if  Whatcoat  were  ordained  Wesley  would 
likely  recall  Asbury,  and  he  would  return  to  England."'- 
Coke,  however,  contended  that  when  the  church  was 
formed,  in  1784,  the  conference  had  voted  that  "during 
the  life  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wesley  we  acknowledge  ourselves 
his  sons  in  the  gospel,  ready  in  matters  belonging  to  church 
government  to  obey  his  commands."  To  this  many  of  the 
members  of  the  conference  replied  that  they  were  not  at 
the  conference  when  that  engagement  was  entered  into,  and 
did  not  consider  themselves  bound  by  it.  Others  affirmed 
that,  though  they  were  ready  at  that  time,  they  did  not 
now  feel  so ;  that  "  they  had  made  the  engagement  of 
their  own  accord,  and  among  themselves,  and  they  believed 
they  had  a  right  to  depart  therefrom  when  they  pleased, 
seeing  it  was  not  a  contract  made  with  Mr.  Wesley,  or  any 

1  ''  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  vol.  i.,  p.  258. 

2  Lee,  p.  126. 


256  THE   METHODISTS.  \S:\\\y.  x. 

Other  person,  but  an  agreement  among  themselves.  It 
was  further  argued  that  Wesley,  while  in  England,  could 
not  tell  whether  a  man  was  qualified  to  govern  us  as  well 
as  we,  who  were  present  and  were  to  be  governed.  We 
believed,  also,  that  if  Mr.  Wesley  was  here  he  would  be 
of  the  same  opinion  with  us."  They  then  agreed  to  leave 
that  statement  out  of  the  minutes,  which  was  done. 

Without  doubt  the  conference  was  right  in  concluding 
that  it  had  never  engaged  to  submit  its  church  officers  to 
Wesley's  judgment.  These  words  are  in  the  form  for  the 
"  ordination  of  superintendents,"  prepared  by  Wesley,  and 
recommended  in  the  Prayer-book  of  1784:  "After  the 
gospel  and  the  sermon  are  ended  the  elected  person  shall 
be  presented  by  two  elders  under  the  superintendent,  say- 
ing," etc.  "  This,"  says  Bishop  Emory,^  "  indisputably 
proves  that  Wesley  himself  contemplated  the  election  of 
our  superintendents,  and  not  that  they  were  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  him."  Asbury  had  refused  to  act  in  that  capac- 
ity unless  the  preachers  unanimously  chose  him.  The  let- 
ter of  Wesley  to  Coke,  produced  by  the  latter  for  his  justi- 
fication, bears  date  of  London,  September  6,  1786: 

"  Dear  Sir  :  I  desire  that  you  would  appoint  a  General 
Conference  of  all  our  preachers  in  the  United  States,  to 
meet  at  Baltimore  on  May  i,  1787  ;  and  that  Mr.  Richard 
Whatcoat  may  be  appointed  superintendent  with  Mr. 
Francis  Asbury." 

Since  Coke  contended  that  this  was  an  appointment,  if 
the  conference  had  yielded  they  might  have  been  equally 
required  by  the  same  authority  to  submit  to  the  recall  of 
Asbury.  As  this  did  not  spring  from  any  disaffection 
toward  Wesley,  the  conference  wrote  a  long,  loving  letter, 

1  "  Defense  of  our  Fathers,"  p.  123. 


THE  NEW  NAME    OF   THE   SUPERINTENDENTS.    257 

requesting  him  to  come  to  America  and  visit  his  spiritual 
children. 

After  traveHng  northwest  from  Georgia,  over  the  moun- 
tains and  through  the  primeval  forest,  a  part  of  the  way- 
determining  his  course  by  compass,  Asbury  descended 
into  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  preaching  and  meeting 
the  ministers  as  he  went.  He  reached  Uniontown,  Pa.,  on 
the  2 2d  of  July,  and  here  held  a  conference,  where  the 
first  Methodist  ordination  beyond  the  Alleghanies  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  performed.  Asbury  and  Whatcoat, 
the  one  a  bishop,  the  other  an  elder,  appeared  in  sacerdotal 
robes,  and  the  morning  service  was  read,  as  abridged  by 
Wesley.  The  candidate  was  Michael  Leard,  famous  for 
being  able  to  repeat  nearly  the  whole  of  the  Old  Testament 
and  large  portions  of  the  New. 

Forty-eight  preachers  were  admitted  on  trial  in  1 788, 
among  them  William  McKendree  and  Valentine  Cook. 
This  year  the  church  mourned  the  loss  by  death  of  four 
ministers. 

The  word  "superintendent"  was  omitted  from  the  first 
question,  which  in  the  minutes  for  1 788  reads :  "  Qiies. 
Who  are  the  bishops  of  our  church  for  the  United  States?  " 
Wesley  misunderstood  the  spirit  of  the  change,  but  when 
it  was  fully  explained  as  signifying  only  what  he  meant 
by  the  word  "  superintendent,"  and  that  it  was  adopted  to 
agree  with  the  term  "  Episcopal  "  in  the  title  of  the  church, 
he  defended  the  action  against  the  severe  criticisms  of  his 
brother  Charles  and  others,  and  in  every  possible  way  ex- 
pressed his  regard  for  his  American  brethren. 

The  first  conference  ever  held  in  the  city  of  New  York 
assembled  Tuesday,  September  30,  1788,  and  continued 
until  the  following  Saturday. 

Garrettson  was  appointed  presiding  elder  of  the  districts 
north  of  the  city  of  New  York,  including  all  the  circuits  from 


258  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  x. 

New  Rochelle  to  Lake  Champlain.  No  material  alterations 
were  made  in  the  Discipline  in  this  year. 

Asbury  was  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  in  January, 
I  789,  passing  into  South  Carolina  on  the  3d  of  February. 
On  the  20th  of  that  month  he  prepared  his  plan  for  the 
coming  conference,  and  a  special  entry  is  significant :  "  I 
made  out  a  registry  of  all  the  preachers  on  the  continent 
who  bear  the  name  of  Methodists."  The  conference  over, 
Asbury  left  Charleston,  and  on  the  night  of  the  26th  was 
joined  by  Coke,  who  had  landed  at  Charleston  about  three 
hours  after  the  former's  departure.  During  Coke's  absence 
from  the  United  States  he  had  been  constantly  engaged  in 
England  and  the  West  Indies,  and  had  sailed  from  Jamaica 
to  Charleston.  En  route  to  Georgia  they  found  congrega- 
tions everywhere;  and  in  that  State  201 1  Methodists,  the 
increase  the  preceding  year  being  784. 

The  conference  agreed  to  erect  a  college  in  Georgia,  and 
the  leading  members,  spoken  of  by  Coke  as  "  our  principal 
friends,"  engaged  to  purchase  at  least  two  thousand  acres 
of  good  land  for -its  support;  in  one  congregation  12,500 
pounds  of  tobacco  were  subscribed  for  the  purpose;  this, 
it  was  estimated,  would  produce,  clear  of  expenses,  about 
one  hundred  pounds  sterling.  He  also  states  that  the 
conference  most  humbly  entreated  Weslej^  to  permit  them 
to  name  it  Wesley  College,  as  a  memorial  of  his  affection 
for  Georgia  and  of  its  great  respect  for  him.  They  then 
returned  to  Charleston. 

By  the  20th  of  April  they  were  holding  the  North  Car- 
olina Conference,  at  which  nineteen  preachers  assembled, 
some  of  whom,  to  attend  it,  had  cro.ssed  the  Alleghany 
Mountains.  The  increase  in  that  State  had  been  741,  and 
the  whole  number  of  members  was  6779.  This  conference 
included  some  of  the  appointments  in  the  State  of  Kentucky, 
from  which  had  been  received  a  letter  asking  that  a  college 


VICISSITUDES.  259 

might  be  erected,  and  offering  to  give  or  purchase  three 
or  four  thousand  acres  of  good  land  to  support  it.  The 
conference  sent  word  :  "  If  they  will  provide  five  thousand 
acres  of  fertile  ground,  and  settle  it  on  such  trustees  as 
we  shall  mention,  under  the  direction  of  the  conference, 
we  will  undertake  to  build  a  college  for  that  part  of  our 
connection  within  ten  years." 

Crossing  into  Virginia,  they  held  the  conference  in  Pe- 
tersburg. Coke  was  astonished  at  the  treatment  he  re- 
ceived in  Halifax  County ;  there  they  had  persecuted  him, 
and  now  "  almost  all  the  great  people  of  the  county  came 
in  their  chariots  and  other  carriages  to  hear  me,  and  be- 
haved with  great  propriety.  There  were  not  less  than 
five  colonels  in  the  congregation." 

Coke  saw  an  illustration  in  Annapolis,  Md.,  of  the  kind 
of  religious  excitement  which  so  disturbed  the  spirit  of 
Thomas  Rankin.  He  was  not  unfavorably  affected,  for, 
referring  to  the  current  charges  of  fanaticism,  he  observes : 
"Whether  there  be  'wild-fire'  in  it  or  not,  I  do  most 
ardently  wish  that  there  were  such  a  work  at  this  time  in 
England."  At  the  conference  in  Baltimore  he  preached 
to  two  thousand  who  remained  till  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning  in  prayer  and  in  praising  God  for  the  conversion 
of  sinners.  From  that  city  they  went  to  Cokesbury,  and 
found  that  "  God  was  working  among  the  students."  As- 
bury  says:  "  One,  however,  we  expelled." 

At  the  first  conference  in  New  Jersey,  though  great  ef- 
forts had  been  made  to  awaken  the  people,  there  had  been 
a  decrease  of  795.  Coke  remarks  that  this  sometimes 
happens  where  the  ministers  have  been  most  faithful. 

The  second  conference  was  held  in  New  York  on  the 
28th  of  June.  At  the  first  a  comprehensive  plan  had  been 
formed  for  "  the  extension  of  the  work  of  God  along  the 
Hudson  River."     Garrettson  was  commissioned  to  execute 


26o  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  x. 

it,  with  the  aid  of  the  preachers  who  had  offered  them- 
selves for  trial.  There  were  then  no  Methodist  societies 
farther  north  than  Westchester.  He  requested  the  young 
men  to  meet  him  when  the  conference  adjourned,  and  di- 
rected them  where  to  begin,  and  how  to  form  their  circuits  ; 
informing  them  that  he  should  proceed  up  the  North  River 
to  the  extreme  parts  of  the  work,  visiting  towns  and  cities 
on  the  way,  and  on  his  return  should  hold  their  Quarterly 
Meetings.  Immediately  afterward  he  began  a  tour  through 
the  northern  part  of  the  State  of  New  York  and  Vermont. 
At  ever}^  point  he  met  difficulties.  The  scattered  congre- 
gations of  Lutherans  and  Dutch  Reformed  on  the  sides  of 
the  Hudson  were  feeble.  In  Vermont  and  western  Massa- 
chusetts, though  the  country  was  regularly  divided  into 
parishes,  each  of  which  had  generally  a  settled  pastor,  the 
doctrines  taught  were  Calvinistic,  and  experimental  religion 
was  at  a  low  ebb.  The  laity  were  as  forward  as  the  min- 
istry to  attack  the  Arminians,  and  as  soon  as  a  Methodist 
preacher  finished  his  discourse  he  had  to  encounter  "  a 
spirit  of  opposition  as  irksome  to  an  ingenuous  mind  as 
it  is  unprofitable  to  a  hardened  heart."  ^  Nevertheless 
Garrettson  visited  New  Rochelle,  North  Castle,  Bedford, 
Peekskill,  and  Rhinebeck,  preaching  everywhere.  Such 
was  his  personal  dignity  that  he  commanded  respect,  and 
such  his  zeal  that  he  passed  through  this  vast  district  every 
three  months,  traveling  about  a  thousand  miles,  and 
preaching  upward  of  one  hundred  sermons.  The  reports 
of  his  success  at  this  conference  were  highly  encouraging. 
For  several  years  Jesse  Lee  had  entertained  the  design 
of  introducing  Methodism  into  New  England,  as  at  Che- 
raw,  in  the.  South,  he  had  met  a  traveling  merchant  from 
the  Eastern  States,  whose  accounts  caused  him  to  think  it 
his  duty  to  pioneer  the  denomination  into  that  part  of  the 
1  Bangs's  "  Life  of  Garrettson,"  p.  173. 


METHODISM  ENTERS  NEW  ENGLAND.  26 1 

country.  Asbury  considered  the  scheme  premature,  if  not 
extravagant,  but  Lee  always  adhered  to  it. 

Charles  Wesley  had  preached  in  Boston  on  his  way  from 
Georgia  to  England  in  1736,  but  Methodism,  in  the  sig- 
nification of  the  word  as  used  in  this  work,  had  not  then 
arisen.  Boardman  had  also  preached  in  New  England  in 
1772,  and  some  of  Garrettson's  preachers  on  the  Hudson 
had  crossed  the  boundary  line  before  Lee.  William  Black, 
of  Nova  Scotia,  in  his  travels  to  and  fro  had  preached  oc- 
casional sermons  in  New  England,  and  about  two  years 
before  Lee  was  appointed  to  Connecticut,  Cornelius 
Cook  had  preached  in  Norwalk,  but  without  permanent 
results.  Garrettson,  on  his  return  from  Nova  Scotia,  pass- 
ing through  Boston  in  1787,  found  three  persons  who  had 
been  members  of  Boardman's  society,  which,  however, 
in  the  absence  of  pastoral  supervision,  had  disintegrated. 
Garrettson  preached  several  sermons  in  private  houses. 

Lee  began  a  circuit  at  Norwalk,  Conn.,  on  the  17th 
of  June,  1789.  No  house  could  be  procured.  Every  per- 
son was  afraid  that  he  might  complicate  himself  if  he  gave 
any  aid  to  the  movement.  Mr.  Lee  says :  "  I  then  went 
into  the  street,  and  began  to  sing,  and  then  prayed,  and 
preached  to  a  decent  congregation."  Four  days  later  he 
preached  in  the  city  of  New  Haven  to  as  many  as  could 
crowd  into  the  court-house.  Being  denied  a  private  house 
to  preach  in,  he  asked  for  the  use  of  an  old  deserted  build- 
ing, but  was  refused.  He  then  proposed  to  preach  in  a 
neighboring  orchard,  but  was  repulsed,  and  finally  stood 
under  an  apple-tree  on  the  highway.  He  notified  the 
people  that  he  would  return  in  two  weeks,  and  if  any  would 
open  their  houses  he  would  be  glad,  but  if  none  were 
willing  the  meeting  would  be  at  the  same  place. 

At  Fairfield  the  schoolmaster  and  four  women  came  to 
hear  Lee,  but  as  he  sang  the  number  increased  to  forty.     In 


262  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai-.  x. 

New  Haven  the  president  of  Yale  College  and  many  of 
the  students  attended.  At  Danbury,  one  day,  he  preached 
twice  at  the  court-house.  In  New  Haven  on  his  second 
visit  the  state-house  bell  was  rung,  and  the  people  assem- 
bled ;  but  influential  men  procured  him  the  opportunity  of 
preaching  in  the  Congregational  chapel.  Among  his  hearers 
was  the  pastor  of  that  church,  and  Dr.  Edwards,  son  of  the 
great  Jonathan,  the  former  president  of  Princeton  College. 
When  he  had  finished,  though  several  told  him  they  were 
much  pleased  with  the  discourse,  no  man  invited  him 
home.  Lee  says :  "  I  went  back  to  the  tavern,  retired 
into  a  room,  went  to  prayer,  and  felt  the  Lord  precious  to 
my  soul.  I  believed  the  Lord  had  sent  me  there.  If  so, 
I  was  sure  to  find  favor  in  the  eyes  of  some  of  the  people. 
In  a  little  time  David  Beacher  came,  asked  me  to  go  home 
with  him,  and  said  he  would  be  willing  to  entertain  me 
when  I  came  to  town  again.  I  went  with  him,  and  his 
wife  was  very  kind."  David  "Beacher"  was  an  honest 
blacksmith,  the  father  of  Lyman  Beecher.  Had  Lyman 
Beecher's  mother  not  been  removed  by  death  shortly  after 
his  birth,  on  account  of  which  he  was  adopted  and  brought 
up  elsewhere,  by  his  uncle,  Lot  Benton,  it  is  not  a  violent 
stretch  of  imagination  to  fancy  that  the  boy,  then  not  quite 
sixteen  years  of  age,  might  have  fallen  under  the  strangely 
magnetic  influence  of  Lee,  whom  youths  generally  found 
irresistible. 

After  forming  an  extensive  circuit  in  Connecticut,  Lee 
entered  Rhode  Island,  preaching  and  making  appointments 
as  he  went. 

The  minutes  of  1789  introduce  a  new  question: 

"Ques.  Who  are  the  persons  that  exercise  episcopal  of- 
fice in  the  Methodist  Church  in  Europe  and  America? 

"Ans.  John  Wesley,  Thomas  Coke,  Francis  Asbury." 


THE  "  council:'  263 

The  second  also  differs  from  any  preceding  question, 
though  containing  no  new  fact. 

"Ques.  Who  have  been  elected  by  the  unanimous  suf- 
frages of  the  General  Conference  to  superintend  the  Meth- 
odist connection  in  America? 

"  Ans.  Thomas  Coke,  Francis  Asbury." 

This  conference  adopted  a  scheme,  presented  by  the 
bishops,  of  an  institution  to  be  known  as  the  "  Council." 
The  ground  of  the  action  was  the  necessity  of  some  method 
of  general  legislation,  and  the  supposed  impossibility  of 
holding  a  General  Conference.  The  purpose  was  strenu- 
ously opposed,  and  there  was  much  debate;  but  it  finally 
prevailed  by  a  large  majority.  The  Council  was  to  be 
composed  of  the  bishops  and  presiding  elders.  Nine  should 
be  required  for  a  quorum,  and  should  there  be  less  than 
that  number  present  the  bishops  were  to  fill  vacancies  by 
summoning  such  elders  as  they  thought  best.  The  Council 
should  have  authority  to  mature  everything  considered  ex- 
pedient "  to  preserve  the  general  union,  to  make  and  keep 
an  external  form  of  worship  similar  in  all  societies,  to  pre- 
serve the  essentials  of  Methodist  doctrine  and  discipline 
pure  and  uncorrupted,  to  correct  all  abuses  and  disorders," 
and  everything  "  necessary  for  the  good  of  the  church,  and 
for  promoting  and  improving  the  colleges  and  plan  of  gen- 
eral education."  Nothing  should  be  considered  as  a  reso- 
lution of  the  Council  unless  assented  to  unanimously,  and 
nothing  so  assented  to  should  be  binding  in  any  district 
until  it  was  agreed  upon  by  a  majority  of  the  conference 
held  for  that  district.  The  first  Council  was  to  be  held  at 
Cokesbury  on  the  first  day  of  December,  and  subsequently 
the  bishops  were  to  have  authority  to  summon  the  Coun- 
cil to  meet  at  such  times  and  places  as  they  judged  ex- 
pedient. 


264  THE  'METHODISTS.  [Chap.  x. 

Those  in  attendance  at  the  first  session  were  Asbury 
and  eleven  conspicuous  elders,  the  most  influential  being 
O'Kelly,  Dickins,  and  Garrettson. 

After  transacting  much  business,  they  resolved  that 
"  every  resolution  of  the  first  Council  shall  be  put  to  vote 
in  each  conference,  and  shall  not  be  adopted  unless  it  ob- 
tains a  majority  of  the  different  conferences.  But  every 
resolution  received  by  a  majority  of  the  several  conferences 
shall  be  received  by  every  member  of  each  conference." 
The  last  resolution  ordered  that  another  Council  should  be 
convened  at  Baltimore  on  the  first  day  of  December,  1 790. 

In  the  conference  that  .sat  in  New  York  in  the  year  i  789, 
Asbury  presented  the  following  proposition  :  "  Whether  it 
would  not  be  proper  for  us,  as  a  church,  to  present  a  con- 
gratulatory address  to  General  Washington,  who  has  lately 
been  inaugurated  President  of  the  United  States,  in  which 
should  be  embodied  our  approbation  of  the  Constitution, 
and  professing  our  allegiance  to  the  government."  The 
conference  approved  and  warmly  recommended  the  meas- 
ure, and  appointed  Coke  and  Asbury  to  draw  up  the  paper. 
After  consideration  it  was  concluded  that,  though  Coke  was 
senior  bishop,  yet,  not  being  an  American  citizen,  it  would 
not  be  proper  for  him  to  present  the  address.  John  Dickins 
and  Thomas  Morrell  were  delegated  to  wait  on  President 
Washington  with  a  copy,  and  to  request  him  to  appoint  a 
time  to  receive  the  bishops,  one  of  whom  was  to  read  it  to 
him  and  receive  his  answer.  They  did  so,  and  as  Morrell 
was  personally  acquainted  with  him,  he  was  asked  to  sub- 
mit a  copy,  and  request  Washington's  reception  of  the 
original  by  the  hands  of  the  bishops.  The  President  ap- 
pointed the  fourth  succeeding  day  at  twelve  o'clock,  and 
at  the  hour  Bishops  Coke  and  Asbury  were  present,  accom- 
panied by  Dickins  and  Morrell.  The  latter,  in  a  letter  to 
the  Rev.  Ezekiel  Cooper  from  his  residence,  August  26, 


THE   BISHOPS   TO    THE  PRESIDENT.  265 

1827,  says  that  Asbury  read  the  address  in  an  impressive 
manner,  the  President  read  his  reply  with  fluency  and  ani- 
mation, they  exchanged  their  respective  documents,  and 
after  sitting  a  few  minutes  the  visitors  retired. 

The  following  is  the  address  of  the  bishops  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church : 

"  To  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

"  Sir  :  We,  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  humbly  beg  leave,  in  the  name  of  our  Society  col- 
lectively in  these  United  States,  to  express  to  you  the 
warm  feeling  of  our  hearts,  and  our  sincere  congratulations 
on  your  appointment  to  the  Presidentship  of  these  States. 
We  are  conscious,  from  the  signal  proofs  you  have  already 
given,  that  you  are  a  friend  of  mankind;  and,  under  this 
established  idea,  place  as  full  confidence  in  your  wisdom 
and  integrity  for  the  preservation  of  those  civil  and  relig- 
ious liberties  which  have  been  transmitted  to  us  by  the 
providence  of  God  and  the  glorious  Revolution,  as  we  be- 
lieve ought  to  be  reposed  in  man. 

"  We  have  received  the  most  grateful  satisfaction  from 
the  humble  and  entire  dependence  on  the  great  Governor 
of  the  universe  which  you  have  repeatedly  expressed, 
acknowledging  him  the  source  of  every  blessing,  and  par- 
ticularly of  the  most  excellent  Constitution  of  these  States, 
which  is  at  present  the  admiration  of  the  world,  and  may 
in  future  become  its  great  exemplar  for  imitation ;  and 
hence  we  enjoy  a  holy  expectation  that  you  will  always 
prove  a  faithful  and  impartial  patron  of  genuine,  vital  re- 
ligion, the  grand  end  of  our  creation  and  present  proba- 
tionary existence.  And  we  promise  you  our  fervent  prayers 
to  the  throne  of  grace,  that  God  Almighty  may  endue  you 
with  all  the  graces  and  gifts  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  that  he  may 
enable  you  to  fill  up  your  important  station  to  his  glory, 


266  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  x. 

the  good  of  his  church,  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the 

United  States,  and  the  welfare  of  mankind. 

"  Signed,  in  behalf  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 

"  Thomas  Coke, 
"  Francis  Asbury. 

"  New  York,  May  29,  1789." 

The  reply  of  President  Washington  was  as  follows : 

"  To  the  Bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America. 

"Gentlemen  :  I  return  to  you  individually, and  through 
you  to  your  Society  collectively  in  the  United  States,  my 
thanks  for  the  demonstration  of  affection,  and  the  expres- 
sions of  joy  offered,  in  their  behalf,  on  my  late  appointment. 
It  shall  be  my  endeavor  to  manifest  the  purity  of  my  in- 
clinations for  promoting  the  happiness  of  mankind,  as  well 
as  the  sincerity  of  my  desires  to  contribute  whatever  may 
be  in  my  power  toward  the  civil  and  religious  liberties  of 
the  American  people.  In  pursuing  this  line  of  conduct,  I 
hope,  by  the  assistance  of  divine  Providence,  not  altogether 
to  disappoint  the  confidence  which  you  have  been  pleased 
to  repose  in  me. 

"  It  always  affords  me  satisfaction  when  I  find  a  concur- 
rence of  sentiment  and  practice  between  all  conscientious 
men,  in  acknowledgments  of  homage  to  the  great  Governor 
of  the  universe,  and  in  professions  of  support  to  a  just  civil 
government.  After  mentioning  that  I  trust  the  people  of 
every  denomination  who  demean  themselves  as  good  citi- 
zens will  have  occasion  to  be  convinced  that  I  shall  alwa}-s 
strive  to  prove  a  faithful  and  impartial  patron  of  genuine, 
vital  religion,  I  must  assure  you  in  particular  that  I  take 
in  the  kindest  part  the  promise  you  make  of  presenting 
your  prayers  at  the  throne  of  grace  for  me,  and  that  I  like- 


THE   PRESIDENT   TO    THE  BISHOPS.  267 

wise  implore  the  divine  benediction  on  yourselves  and  your 
religious  community. 

"  George  Washington."  ^ 

A  few  days  after  the  address  and  the  response  were  in- 
serted in  the  public  papers,  some  of  the  ministers  and 
members  of  other  churches  appeared  dissatisfied  that  the 
Methodists  should  take  the  lead,  and  the  other  denomina- 
tions successively  followed  the  example.  The  papers  took 
up  the  question  of  Coke's  signing  the  address  as  bishop, 
and  High-churchmen  printed  such  inquiries  as  "  Who  is 
he?"  "  How  came  he  to  be  a  bishop  ?  "  "Who  consecrated 
him?"  Severe  strictures  were  made  on  the  impropriety 
of  a  British  subject's  signing  a  paper  approving  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States.  They  charged  him  with  dupli- 
city, and  with  being  an  enemy  to  the  independence  of 
America,  and  alleged  that  he  had  written  an  inflammatory 
epistle  to  the  people  of  Great  Britain,  condemning  the 
efforts  of  the  Americans  to  obtain  independence. 

The  minutes  of  1790  show  that  67  were  ordained  elders 
and  57  deacons,  besides  which  47  preachers  were  received 
on  trial,  and  57,631  lay  members  added,  of  whom  about 
one  fourth  were  classified  as  colored  ;  and  the  whole  num- 
ber of  preachers  was  227.  Fourteen  conferences  were  held 
in  Charleston,  S.  C,  Georgia,  Kentucky,  Holston,  Tenn., 
North  Carolina,  others  in  Virginia,  Maryland,  Pennsylvania, 
New  Jersey,  and  the  last  for  the  year  in  the  city  of  New 
York  on  the  4th  of  October.  Twenty  new  circuits  and 
stations  were  formed,  and  among  them  were  three  in  the 
South,  six  in  the  West,  three  in  Connecticut — New  Haven, 
Hartford,  and  Litchfield — and  one  in  Massachusetts,  at 
Boston. 

The  first  sermon  preached  by  the  Methodists  in  the  city 

1  Bangs's  "  History  of  Methodism,"  vol.  i.,  p.  284. 


268  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  x. 

of  Middletown  was  on  the  seventh  day  of  December,  i  789, 
and  the  first  in  Wilbraham,  Mass.,  May  3d  of  the  same 
year.  The  introduction  of  Methodism  into  Boston  and 
vicinity  is  described  by  Jesse  Lee,  who  has  the  undis- 
puted honor  of  its  permanent  estabUshment.  He  observes : 
"  In  the  course  of  the  preceding  summer  Mr.  Freeborn 
Garrettson  had  visited  that  town  [Boston]  and  preached. 
I  made  them  a  visit  in  July.  On  one  occasion  I  went  out 
on  the  Common,  and,  standing  on  a  table,  began  to  sing 
with  only  a  few  persons  present.  But,  having  prayed  and 
begun  to  preach,  the  number  increased  so  that  there  were 
two  or  three  thousand  attentive  hearers.  The  number  was 
still  more  greatly  increased  the  next  Sabbath  day  at  the 
same  place  at  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon." 

Lee  furnishes  interesting  details  of  the  opening  of  the 
work.  The  first  Methodist  sermon  in  Salem  was  preached 
July  12,  1790,  in  Newburyport  three  days  later,  in  Danvers 
on  the  4th,  Marblehead  on  the  17th,  the  20th  in  Charles- 
town.  On  the  14th  of  December  the  first  sermon  in  Lynn 
was  preached.  Notwithstanding  the  multitude  to  ^^■hom 
Lee  preached  on  the  Common  in  Boston,  he  found  it  hard 
to  procure  a  place  for  service,  and  "  the  Word  took  but 
little  hold  on  the  minds  of  the  hearers,"  whereas  in  Lynn 
as  soon  as  he  began  he  produced  a  powerful  effect  on  the 
hearers,  who  flocked  to  hear  by  hundreds.  Therefore  it 
soon  appeared  that  Lynn  was  the  place  that  should  be  at- 
tended to  in  preference  to  any  other. 

Some  time  after  Lee  had  begun  his  work  in  New  Eng- 
land, Garrettson,  accompanied  by  the  famous  Black  Harry, 
entered  Connecticut  at  Sharon,  and  preached  under  the 
trees  to  a  thousand  people.  At  Litchfield  he  was  permitted 
to  preach  in  the  Episcopal  church  and  in  the  Presbyterian 
meeting-house.  But  after  two  or  three  days  he  reached 
the  interior  of  New  England,  and  found  himself  surrounded 


CONTROVERSIES  AND   CONVERSIONS.  269 

by  the  flames  of  doctrinal  discussion,  which  Lee  and  his 
colleagues  had  aroused.  At  Worcester  he  went  from  one 
end  of  the  town  to  the  other,  and  could  get  no  one  to  open 
the  court-house  and  gather  the  inhabitants.  The  next  day 
he  rode  forty-eight  miles  to  Boston.  His  "Journal  "  con- 
tains a  passage  showing  the  state  of  things  in  that  city  with 
regard  to  negroes  :  "  I  boarded  Harry  with  the  master  mason 
for  the  Africans,  and  I  took  my  own  lodgings  with  a  gentle- 
man who  had  been  a  Methodist  in  England,  but  had,  I  fear, 
fallen  from  the  spirit  of  Methodism."  Before  leaving  that 
part  of  the  country  he  preached  in  Providence,  where  he  was 
well  received  by  the  churches,  by  Christians  in  particular, 
and  by  a  venerable  pastor  named  Snow.  But  in  Hartford 
he  was  mobbed.  In  his  first  sermon  he  encountered  "  as 
ill-behaved  an  audience  as  I  have  ever  seen  in  New  Eng- 
land, and  the  next  night  some  of  what  are  called  *  the  gentry ' 
behaved  so  ill  that  I  was  under  the  necessity  of  break- 
ing up  the  meeting,  declining  to  preach  by  candle-light  "  ; 
but  he  preached  the  next  day  in  the  state-house.i 

Thomas  Ware,  who  had  been  traveling  in  Tennessee, 
was  taken  by  Bishop  Asbury  to  North  Carolina  in  the 
spring  of  i  789.  Everywhere  Ware,  by  his  wisdom,  elo- 
quence, and  piety,  commanded  respect  and  won  adherents 
to  his  cause  and  friends  to  himself. 

The  conversion  of  General  Bryan,  a  lawyer  of  distinction, 
and  a  professed  deist,  produced  in  a  day  an  effect  which 
could  hardly  have  been  compassed  in  a  year  of  ordinary 
religious  work.  At  the  Quarterly  Meeting  in  1790,  to 
which  he  had  been  drawn  by  the  persuasions  of  his  wife, 
the  preaching,  with  occasional  intervals,  continued  for  sev- 
eral hours.  "  The  whole  assembly  were  from  time  to  time 
bowed  down  like  the  slender  reed  before  the  passing  breeze  ; 
but  none  of  them  had  as  yet  lost  their  elasticity.  Many 
1  "  Garrettson's  Journal." 


270  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  x. 

hearts  seemed  bruised,  but  none  broken.  The  last  that  spoke 
melted  his  auditors  on  these  affecting  words  :  '  Which  none 
of  the  princes  of  this  world  knew :  for  had  they  known  it, 
they  would  not  have  crucified  the  Lord  of  glory.'  "  Under 
this  discourse  GeneraJ  Bryan  wept,  and  many  wondered 
to  see  him  volunteer  in  taking  the  collection,  at  the  close 
of  which,  after  asking  the  prixilege  of  addressing  the  people, 
he  spoke  in  the  following  strain : 

"  Fellow-citizens  :  I  have  sometimes  trembled  before 
the  majesty  of  courts.  But  where  am  I  now?  and  what? 
An  advocate?  Yes!  Before  a  judge  weak  and  erring  like 
myself?  No,  but  before  the  Judge  eternal!  To  plead 
the  cause  of  truth  against  myself,  and  against  many  of  you, 
w'ho,  like  myself,  have  crucified  the  Lord  of  glory !  Had 
I  known  it,  I  would  not  have  done  so  wickedly,  nor  would 
you,  nor  you  [pointing  to  two  of  his  deistical  fraternity]. 
You  see  my  tears ;  they  are  tears  of  penitential  grief  for 
myself  and  for  you ;  for  we  have  denied  the  Lord  that 
bought  us  with  his  own  blood. 

"  Ye  dear  heralds  of  the  gospel!  I  am  an  advocate  for 
Christ.  You  have  convinced  me.  You  say,  when  the 
Eternal  would  save  the  world  he  chose  a  way  known  only 
to  himself.  None  of  the  princes  of  this  world  knew  it,  and 
they  could  not  until  it  was  told  them,  and  then  they  would 
not  believe!  So  neither  would  I  until  you  melted  me  into 
the  belief.  Some  may  doubt  it,  but  I  know  God-has  sent 
you,  and  your  God  and  people  shall  be  mine." 

"  During  this  speech,"  adds  Ware,  "  the  people  were 

silent  a?  death,  save  now  and  then  a  sob  or  shriek  ;  but  now 

a  loud  try  arose,  and  continued  with  many  until  the  going 

down  of  the  sun  ;  and  the  slain  of  the  Lord  were  many."  ^ 

1  "  Memoir  of  Thomas  Ware,"  pp.  166,  167. 


ASBURY  AND   SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.  27 1 

.  A  rule  is  found  in  the  minutes  of  1 790,  establishing 
Sunday-schools : 

"Qucs.  What  can  be  done  in  order  to  instruct  poor  chil- 
dren (white  and  black)  to  read? 

"  Ans.  Let  us  labor,  as  the  heart  and  soul  of  one  man, 
to  establish  Sunday-schools  in  or  near  the  place  of  public 
worship." 

The  rule  provided  that  the  teachers  should  be  appointed 
by  bishops,  elders,  deacons,  or  preachers,  that  they  must 
teach  gratuitously,  and  that  the  school  should  open  at 
six  in  the  morning,  and  continue  till  ten,  and  at  two  in 
the  afternoon,  and  continue  till  six,  "  where  it  does  not 
interfere  with  the  public  worship."  The  Council  was  also 
instructed  to  "  compile  a  proper  school-book  to  teach  them 
learning  and  piety."  As  the  schools  were  established  in 
several  places,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  scholars  were 
"  black  children  whose  parents  were  backward  about  send- 
ing them,"  ^  the  masters  became  discouraged,  and,  having 
no  pay  and  little  promise  of  doing  good,  the  work  in  this 
form  was  soon  suspended.  So  far  as  can  be  ascertained, 
the  first  of  the  kind  in  the  New  World  was  established  by 
Francis  Asbury,  in  1786,  at  the  house  of  Thomas  Cren- 
shaw, in  Hanover  County,  Virginia,  and  the  first  recogni- 
tion of  Sunday-schools  by  an  American  church  was  given 
by  this  vote  in  the  Conference  of  i  790. 

The  increase  of  members  in  1790,  though  great,  was 
partly  owing  to  a  difference  in  the  time  of  taking  the  ac- 
counts. Says  Lee  :  "  Last  year  it  was  closed  in  May.  This 
year  in  October,  which  extended  the  time  to  one  year  and 
five  months.  Had  the  numbers  been  taken  in  May,  as  they 
were  the  last  year,  the  increase  would  not  have  been  so 
large ;  but  there  was  a  most  blessed  work  of  God  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  country."- 

1  Lee's  "  History  of  the  Methodists,"  p.  163.  2  /bid. 


272  7'HE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.:: 

The  name  of  John  Dickins,  who  had  been  stationed  at 
Philadelphia  in  i  789,  his  appellation  being  "  book  steward," 
a  term  in  use  among  the  Wesleyans  in  England,  appears 
by  itself  in  the  minutes  of  i  790,  under  the  designation  of 
"superintendent  of  the  printing  and  book  business."  In 
1789  Philip  Cox  also  was  left  without  a  circuit,  as  "  book 
steward  at  large." 

The  second  Council  convened  on  December  i,  1790, 
and,  after  having  considered  thirty-one  subjects,  adjourned, 
to  meet  in  two  years. 

Coke,  after  traveling  through  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
and  making  a  visit  to  the  West  Indies,  accompanied  by 
Hackett,  one  of  his  missionaries,  had  sailed  from  Jamaica  to 
the  United  States,  and  arrived  at  Charleston,  February  23, 
1 79 1.  As  he  was  known  to  be  on  the  way,  the  conference 
then  in  session  expected  him  ;  and  as  the  members  had  re- 
mained one  day  longer  than  their  business  required,  hoping 
for  his  arrival  although  the  vessel  was  wrecked,  they  had 
the  privilege  of  meeting,  and  Coke  records  his  pleasure  at 
spending  the  day  with  them  "  in  many  solemn  and  useful 
conversations." 

Coke  and  Asbury  took  separate  routes  to  the  Georgia 
Conference,  and  after  it  adjourned  proceeded  to  the  North 
Carolina  Conference,  continuing  together  till  they  arrived 
at  Port  Royal,  where,  on  the  29th  of  April,  they  received 
intelligence  of  the  death  of  John  Wesley,  which  had  oc- 
curred March  2,  1791. 

At  one  period  it  might  have  been  important  to  present 
a  catalogue  of  Wesley's  literary  works,  to  furnish  evidence 
of  his  scholastic  attainments,  to  defend  him  from  the  charges 
of  enemies,  to  demonstrate  the  extent  of  his  influence ; 
but  his  fame  may  be  trusted  safely  to  Macaulay,  Lecky, 
Green,  and  every  modern  church  historian  of  rank,  w^ho 
have  placed  him  upon  a  pedestal  apart,  agreeing  with  one 


WILBERFORCE  AND  JOHN  HOWARD.  273 

of  the  most  recent  of  them,  Dr.  Philip  Schaff,  that  he  was 
"  the  most  apostohc  man  since  the  apostolic  age." 

A  remarkable  testimonial  to  him,  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
Wesley's  least  partial  biographer  is  Southey,  is  found  in  a 
letter  written  by  the  latter  to  Wilberforce,  in  which  he  says  : 
"  He  was  the  most  influential  mind  of  the  century — the 
man  who  will  have  produced  the  greatest  effects  cen- 
turies, or  perhaps  millenniums,  hence,  if  the  present  race  of 
men  should  continue  so  long."  ^ 

Wesliey  sympathized  with  every  movement  having  in 
view  the  welfare  of  the  human  race.  The  last  letter  he 
ever  wrote  was  addressed  to  Wilberforce,  who  had  brought 
before  the  Parliament  the  question  of  the  abolition  of  slav- 
ery. It  bears  date  of  London,  February  24,  1791,  and 
shows  that. age  had  not  diminished  the  vigor  of  his  style. 

"  My  dear  Sir  :  Unless  the  Divine  Power  has  raised 
you  up  to  be  as  Athanasius,  contra  mundiim,  I  see  not  how 
you  can  get  through  your  glorious  enterprise  in  opposing 
that  execrable  villainy  which  is  the  scandal  of  religion,  of 
England,  and  of  human  nature.  Unless  God  has  raised 
you  up  for  this  very  thing,  you  will  be  worn  out  by  the 
opposition  of  men  and  devils ;  but  if  God  be  for  you,  who 
can  be  against  you  ?  " 

Wesley  exerted  a  powerful  influence  over  John  Howard, 
the  philanthropist,  and  says  of  him :  "  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  a  conversation  with  Mr.  Howard,  I  think  one  of  the 
greatest  men  in  Europe.  Nothing  but  the  mighty  power 
of  God  can  enable  him  to  go  through  his  difficult  and  dan- 
gerous employments." 

Howard,  writing  to  Alexander  Knox,  Esq.,  refers  to 
Wesley  in  these  words :  ''  I  was  encouraged  by  him  to  go 

1  "  Wilberforce  Correspondence,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  388. 


2/4  ^^^^"   METIIODJSTS.  [CnAi'.  \. 

on  vigorously  with  my  own  designs.  I  saw  in  him  how 
much  a  single  man  might  achieve  by  zeal  and  perseverance, 
and  I  thought,  Why  may  not  I  do  as  much  in  my  way  as 
Mr.  Wesley  has  done  in  his,  if  I  am  only  as  assiduous  and 
persevering?  and  I  determined  I  would  pursue  my  work 
with  more  alacrity  than  ever." 

One  quality  of  John  Wesley  was  that  of  never  forgetting 
a  friend,  and  always  manifesting  his  friendship  when  that 
friend  was  in  need.  In  England  was  a  barber  named 
William  Shent,  who  in  old  age  fell  into  sin  and  embarrass- 
ment. His  friends  forsook  him.  Whereupon  Wesley 
wrote  to  the  Methodist  Society  a  letter  which  illustrates 
his  intensity,  frankness,  irresistible  logic,  eloquence,  and 
pathos : 

"  London,   January  ii,  1779. 

"  I  have  a  few  questions  which  I  desire  may  be  proposed 
to  the  Society  at  Keighley  : 

"  Who  was  the  occasion  of  the  Methodist  preacher's  first 
setting  foot  in  Leeds?     William  Shent. 

"  Who  received  John  Nelson  into  his  house  at  his  first 
coming  thither?     William  Shent. 

"  Who  was  it  that  invited  me,  and  received  me  when  I 
came?     William  Shent. 

"  Who  was  it  that  stood  by  me  while  I  preached  in  the 
street,  with  stones  flying  on  every  side?     William  Shent. 

"  Who  was  it  that  bore  the  storm  of  persecution  for  the 
whole  town,  and  stemmed  it  at  the  peril  of  his  life?  Wil- 
liam Shent. 

"  Whose  word  did  God  bless  for  many  years  in  an  emi- 
nent manner?     William  Shent's. 

"  By  whom  were  many  children  now  in  Paradise  begotten 
in  the  Lord,  and  many  now  alive?     William  Shent. 

"  Who  is  he  that  is  ready  now  to  be  broken  up  and  turned 
into  the  street?     William  Shent. 


WESLEY  AS  A    PR  E  A  CHE  K.  275 

"  And  does  nobody  care  for  this  ?  William  Shent  fell 
"into  sin  and  was  publicly  expelled  the  Society ;  but  must 
he  be  also  starved?  Must  he,  with  his  gray  hairs  and  all 
his  children,  be  without  a  place  to  lay  his  head  ?  Can  you 
suffer  this  ?  Oh,  tell  it  not  in  Gath !  Where  is  gratitude  ? 
Where  is  compassion  ?  Where  is  Christianity  ?  Where  is 
humanity  ?  Where  is  concern  for  the  cause  of  God  ?  Who 
is  a  wise  man  among  you  ?  Who  is  concerned  for  the 
gospel?  Who  has  put  on  bowels  of  mercy?  Let  him 
arise  and  exert  himself  in  this  matter.  You  here  all  arise 
as  one  man  and  roll  away  the  reproach.  Let  us  set  him 
on  his  feet  once  more.  It  may  save  both  him  and  his 
family.      But  what  we  do,  let  it  be  done  quickly. 

"  I  am,  dear  brethren,  your  affectionate  brother, 

"John  Wesley." 

Wesley's  fame  as  a  preacher  was  somewhat  obscured 
by  the  extraordinary  power  of  Whitefield,  whose  dramatic 
eloquence  attracted  all  classes.  Yet  the  severity  and  over- 
whelming religious  power  of  Wesley  were  such  that  men 
who  would  not  submit  to  the  claims  of  God  as  expounded 
by  him  did  not  dare  to  hear  him.  He  attracted  even 
larger  congregations  than  Whitefield,  and  produced  a 
more  powerful  and  permanent  impression.  Rigg,  in  "  The 
Living  Wesley,"  compares  the  two  justly:  "Wesley  was 
not  a  pictorial  or  dramatic  preacher  like  his  great  preaching 
contemporary,  Whitefield  ;  but  whereas  Whitefield,  power- 
ful preacher  as  he  was,  was  yet  more  popular  than  powerful, 
Wesley,  popular  preacher  as  he  was,  was  yet  more  power- 
ful, in  comparison  with  his  fellows,  than  he  was  popular." 

No  preacher  since  the  days  when  Paul  reasoned  of 
righteousness,  temperance,  and  judgment  to  come,  equaled 
him,  on  extraordinary  occasions,  in  moral  power,  of  which 
many  instances  are  given  by  Southey. 


276  'J'lll^  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  x. 

A  striking  description,  because  of  the  man  who  wrote 
it  and  the  fact  that  he  did  so  with  no  thought  of  pub- 
hcation,  is  in  a  letter  written  to  Wesley  by  John  White- 
lamb,  who  was  Samuel  Wesley's  amanuensis.  He  had  been 
a  fellow-student  of  Wesley's  at  Oxford,  and  interested  in 
Methodism  before  it  took  on  its  permanent  type.  He  had 
married  Wesley's  sister  Mary,  but  she  died  in  1735.  After- 
ward he  became  a  rector  in  the  Church  of  England,  and 
did  not  sympathize  with  Methodism ;  but  hearing  Wesley 
preach  at  Epworth,  standing  on  his  father's  tombstone, 
subsequently  wrote   him   the   following  letter : 

"  Dear  Brother  :  I  saw  you  at  Epworth  on  Tuesday 
evening.  Fain  would  I  have  spoken  to  you,  but  that  I 
am  quite  at  a  loss  how  to  address  you  or  behave.  Your 
way  of  thinking  is  so  extraordinary  that  your  presence 
creates  an  awe,  as  though  you  were  an  inhabitant  of  an- 
other world.  God  grant  that  you  and  your  followers  may 
have  entire  liberty  of  conscience  ;  will  you  not  allow  others 
the  same?  I  cannot  think  as  you  do;  but  I  retain  the 
highest  veneration  and  affection  for  you.  The  sight  of  you 
moves  me  strangely.  My  heart  overflows  with  gratitude. 
I  cannot  refrain  from  tears  when  I  think,  This  is  the  man 
who  at  Oxford  was  more  than  a  father  to  me !  This  is  he 
whom  I  have  there  heard  expound  or  dispute  publicly, 
and  preach  at  St.  Mary's  with  such  applause!"^ 

Later  their  former  intimacy  was  in  some  degree  re- 
newed, for  in  1 742  Wesley  preached  in  Mr.  Whitelamb's 
church  morning  and  afternoon  at  the  latter's  request ;  and 
at  six  in  the  evening,  having  already  delivered  three  ser- 
mons, he  preached  in  Epworth  churchyard  for  nearly  three 

1  "  Methodist  Magazine,"  1778,  edited  by  John  Wesley  (London). 


HIS  LAST  LETTER    TO    THE    UNITED   STATES.     2']'] 

hours,  the  people  constraining  him  to  remain  and  lead 
them  to  Christ. 

The  same  awe-inspiring  influence  and  overwhelming 
personal  force  characterized  him  sometimes  even  in  dealing 
with  his  brother  Charles,  who  on  one  occasion  attempted 
to  dissuade  him  from  doing  w^hat  he  thought  (perhaps  mis- 
takenly) his  duty.  In  answer  he  exclaimed,  "  Brother, 
when  I  devoted  to  God  my  ease,  my  time,  my  life,  did  I 
except  my  reputation?     No." 

So  far  as  is  known,  the  last  letter  from  Wesley  to  the 
United  States  was  written  only  twenty-nine  days  before 
his  death,  to  the  Rev.  Ezekiel  Cooper : 

"Near  London,  February  i,  1791. 
"  My  dear  Brother  :  Those  that  desire  to  write  or 
say  anything  to  me  have  no  time  to  lose ;  for  time  has 
shaken  me  by  the  hand,  and  death  is  not  far  behind.  But 
I  have  reason  to  be  thankful  for  the  time  that  is  past ;  I 
felt  few  of  the  infirmities  of  age  for  fourscore  and  six  years. 
It  was  not  till  a  year  and  a  half  ago  that  my  strength  and 
my  sight  failed.  And  still  I  am  enabled  to  scrawl  a  little 
and  to  creep,  though  I  cannot  run.  Probably  I  should  not 
be  able  to  do  so  much  did  not  many  of  you  assist  me  by 
your  prayers.  I  have  given  a  distinct  account  of  the  work 
of  God  which  has  been  wrought  in  Britain  and  Ireland  for 
more  than  half  a  century.  We  want  some  of  you  to  give 
us  a  connected  relation  of  what  our  Lord  has  been  doing 
in  America,  from  the  time  that  Richard  Boardman  accepted 
the  invitation  and  left  his  country  to  serve  you.  See  that 
you  never  give  place  to  one  thought  of  separating  from 
your  brethren  in  Europe.  Lose  no  opportunity  of  declar- 
ing to  all  men  that  the  Methodists  are  one  people  in  all 
the  world,  and  that  it  is  their  full  determination  so  to 
continue : 


278  THE  METIJODISIS.  [Chap.  x. 

Though  mountains  rise,  and  oceans  roll, 
To  sever  us  in  vain. 

To  the  care  of  our  coninion  Lord  I  commit  you  ;  and  am 
"  Your  affectionate  friend  and  brother, 

"  John  Wesley." 

Probably  the  best  estimate  of  Wesley's  character  and 
career  is  in  "  Asbury's  Journal,"  under  date  of  Friday, 
April  29,  1791  : 

"  The  solemn  news  reached  my  ears  that  the  public 
papers  had  announced  the  death  of  that  dear  man  of  God, 
John  Wesley,  who  died  in  his  own  house  in  London  in  the 
eighty- eighth  year  of  his  age,  after  preaching  the  gospel 
sixty-four  years.  W^hen  we  consider  his  plain  and  nervous 
writings,  his  uncommon  talent  for  sermonizing  and  jour- 
nalizing; that  he  had  such  a  steady  flow  of  animal  spirits, 
so  much  of  the  spirit  of  government  in  him ;  his  knowl- 
edge as  an  observer,  his  attainments  as  a  scholar,  his  ex- 
perience as  a  Christian — I  conclude,  his  equal  is  not  to 
be  found  among  all  the  sons  he  hath  brought  up,  nor  his 
superior  among  all  the  sons  of  Adam  he  may  have  left 
behind." 

The  great  length  of  John  Wesley's  life  was  of  incal- 
culable advantage  to  Methodism  and  to  spiritual  Christian- 
ity ;  for  it  perpetuated  the  organization,  and  admitted  of 
all  possible  experiments,  the  rejection  of  failures,  and  the 
improvement  of  methods  worthy  of  permanent  adoption. 
This  was  done  under  an  autocratic  authority  inspired  by 
one  desire,  the  promotion  of  Christ's  kingdom  ;  an  authority 
which  lost  no  influence  by  confessions  of  error  or  change, 
and  was  superior  to  opposition  by  reason  of  his  financial 
grasp  upon  the  property  of  the  connection  and  his  control 
of  appointments. 

Except   that   which  would  arise  on   the  death  of  the 


RESULTS   OF  HIS  LONG   LIFE.  279 

founder,  all  crises  in  the  movement  had  been  met  and  suc- 
cessfully passed  ;  and  the  best  preparation  of  which  he  was 
capable,  with  the  aid  of  trusted  personal  and  legal  counsel, 
had  been  made  by  the  passage  of  an  act  of  Parliament 
constituting  and  perpetuating  a  body  which  should  hold 
the  property,  maintain  the  institutions,  the  doctrines,  and 
the  conference,  and  periodically  distribute  the  ministers 
when  the  ruler  of  Methodism  should  be  no  more. 

The  honors  showered  upon  him  during  his  old  age  con- 
tributed much  to  the  preservation  and  increase  of  the  re- 
spect shown  to  Methodism,  and  to  its  general  recognition 
as  an  important  factor  in  modern  civilization.  When,  after 
having  long  been  spoken  of  by  men  chary  of  compliments 
and  unsympathetic  with  religious  enthusiasm  as  "  the  no- 
blest old  man  in  England,"  it  was  announced  that  he  had 
gone  hence  forever,  the  controversies  which  had  accom- 
panied his  earlier  career,  and  had  been  revived  and  inten- 
sified by  his  ordination  of  Coke  and  Whatcoat  and  the 
establishment  of  an  independent  church  in  the  United 
States,  subsided ;  and  all  who  wrote  or  spoke  of  him,  ex- 
cept incorrigible  bigots,  found  it  easy  to  say  nothing  but 
good  of  the  dead.  Irritation  caused  by  Wesley's  inter- 
ference in  the  affairs  of  this  country  had  already  passed 
away,  and  to  be  a  "  follower  of  Wesley  "  was  no  longer  a 
sign  of  contention. 

Although  disturbances  arose  among  the  Methodists  of 
England,  the  parliamentary  deed  which  secured  the  prop- 
erty, and  the  Legal  Hundred  who  held  the  power,  main- 
tained the  body  intact.  Those  controversies  did  not  affect 
Methodism  in  this  country. 

Not  less  than  the  long  life  of  Wesley  and  the  fact  of  his 
death  did  the  manner  of  his  departure  contribute  to  the 
religious  growth  of  his  own  people,  and  of  all  who  were 
favorably  affected  toward  him.     On  the  25th  of  February 


28o  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  x. 

he  grew  very  ill;  but  on  the  27th  seemed  better,  and  re- 
peated one  of  his  brother's  hymns : 

Till  glad  I  lay  this  body  down, 

Thy  service,  Lord,  attend  ; 
And  oh,  my  life  of  mercy  crown 

With  a  triumphant  end! 

On  the  next  day  he  repeated  to  himself,  "  There  is  no  way 
into  the  holiest  but  by  the  blood  of  Jesus."  On  the  morning 
of  March  ist  he  asked  for  a  pen,  but  was  unable  to  write. 
A  friend  offered  to  write  for  him,  and  said,  "  Tell  me  what 
you  wish  to  say."  "  Nothing,"  he  replied,  "  but  that  God 
is  with  us,"  and  began  to  sing,  "  I'll  praise  my  Maker  while 
I've  breath."  He  made  some  remarks  about  what  should 
be  done  after  his  death,  took  each  one  by  the  hand,  and 
said,  "  Farewell !  farewell!"  He  asked  that  his  sermon 
on  "  The  Love  of  God  to  Fallen  Men  "  "  might  be  scattered 
abroad  and  given  to  everybody."  His  last  word  was 
"  Farewell,"  and  without  a  groan  or  sigh  he  was  gone. 
The  account  of  the  closing  scenes,  which  took  place  in  the 
presence  of  eleven  friends,  including  his  physician,  filled 
Methodists  throughout  the  world  with  praise ;  and  since 
that  day  multitudes  have  approached  death  with  confidence, 
inspired  by  the  recollection  of  the  manner  of  his  departure 
and  a  personal  experience  of  his  declaration,  "  The  best  of 
all  is,  God  is  with  us."  Of  John  Wesley  more  than  of  any 
other  minister  of  the  gospel  since  the  death  of  St.  John — 
with  the  possible  exception  of  Martin  Luther — it  may  be 
said  assuredly,  "  He,  being  dead,  yet  speaketh." 


CHAPTER  XL 

OUT  OF  THE  OLD  CENTURY  INTO  THE  NEW. 

Coke  sailed  for  London  on  the  14th  of  May,  1791. 

General  protest  compelled  the  bishops  to  consent  to 
indefinite  postponement  of  the  Council ;  thus  it  was  tacitly 
abolished,  and  none  too  soon,  for  it  had  "  brought  on  such 
opposition  in  the  minds  of  the  preachers  and  people  that  it 
was  hard  to  reconcile  them  one  to  another." 

The  General  Conference  assembled  November  i,  1792, 
in  Baltimore.  No  official  record  is  extant ;  but  Lee  was 
present,  and  has  preserved  in  his  "  History  "  a  synopsis  of 
the  proceedings. 

James  O'Kelly,  of  Virginia,  proposed  a  radical  change, 
to  the  effect  that  "  after  the  bishop  appoints  the  preach- 
ers at  conference  to  their  several  circuits,  if  any  one  think 
himself  injured  by  the  appointment,  he  shall  have  liberty 
to  appeal  to  the  conference  and  state  his  objections ;  and 
if  the  conference  approve  his  objections,  the  bishop  shall 
appoint  him  to  another  circuit." 

O'Kelly  became  a  Methodist  preacher  in  1778,  was 
ordained  in  1 784,  and  sent  to  a  region  in  which  he  had 
attained  popularity,  and  where  for  the  eight  years  preced- 
ing this  conference  he  had  continued  as  presiding  elder. 
He  had  come  into  note  as  a  representative  of  the  preachers 
against  the  authority  and  life-tenure  of  the  superintend- 
ents, and  was  supported  in  his  propositions  by  Freeborn 
Garrettson,  Richard  Ivey,  Hope  Hull,  and  others  of  equal 

281 


282  'J'Hf'-    MirniODISTS.  [Chap.  xi. 

weight.  The  chief  debaters  on  the  other  side  were  Henry 
WilHs,  Jesse  Lee,  Thomas  Morrell,  Joseph  Everett,  and 
Nelson  Reed. 

Lee  and  Ware  state  that  the  arguments  forand  against  the 
proposition  were  weighty,  and  handled  in  a  masterly  wa}-. 

Asbury's  account  of  the  matter  is : 

"  Some  individuals  among  the  preachers  having  their 
jealousies  about  my  influence  in  the  conference,  I  gave  the 
matter  wholly  up  to  them  and  to  Dr.  Coke,  who  presided. 
Meantime  I  sent  them  the  following  letter: 

"  '  My  dear  Brethren  :  Let  my  absence  give  you  no 
pain ;  Dr.  Coke  presides.  I  am  happily  excused  from  as- 
sisting to  make  laws  by  which  myself  am  to  be  governed ; 
I  have  only  to  obey  and  execute.  I  am  happy  in  the  con- 
sideration that  I  never  stationed  a  brother  through  enmity 
or  as  a  punishment.  I  have  acted  for  the  glory  of  God, 
the  good  of  the  people,  and  to  promote  the  usefulness  of 
the  preachers.  Are  you  sure  that  if  you  please  yourselves 
the  people  will  be  as  fully  satisfied?  They  often  say, 
"  Let  us  have  such  a  brother;"  and  sometimes,  "We  will 
not  have  such  a  brother ;  we  will  sooner  pay  him  to  stay 
at  home."  Perhaps  I  must  say,  "  His  appeal  forced  him 
upon  you."  I  am  one  ;  ye  are  many.  I  am  as  willing  to 
serve  you  as  ever.  I  want  not  to  sit  in  any  man's  way.  I 
scorn  to  solicit  votes.  I  am  a  very  trembling,  poor  crea- 
ture to  hear  praise  or  dispraise.  Speak  your  minds  freely  ; 
but  remember  you  are  only  making  laws  for  the  present 
time.  It  may  be  that,  as  in  other  things  so  in  this,  a 
future  day  may  give  you  further  light.  I  am, 
"  '  Yours,  etc., 

"  '  Francis  Asbury.'  " 

Ware  says  that  when  the  proposition  was  broached  he 
did  not  see  anything  objectionable  in  it;  but  when  it  came 


O' KELLY'S  DISCOMFITURE.  283 

to  be  debated,  he  disliked  the  spirit  of  those  who  advocated 
it,  and  wondered  at  their  severity  against  what  they  had 
formerly  defended.  "  Some  of  them  said  that  it  was  a 
shame  for  a  man  to  accept  of  such  a  lordship,  much  more 
to  claim  it.  .  .  .  One  said  that '  to  be  denied  such  an  ap- 
peal was  an  insult  to  his  understanding,  and  a  species  of 
tyranny, to  which  others  might  submit,  .  .  .  but  he  could 
not.'  " 

O'Kelly's  opponents  replied  that  such  assertions  were 
reflections  upon  Wesley,  who  founded  the  plan  and  exe- 
cuted it  until  his  death,  and  that  to  allow  the  appeal  would 
make  the  itinerancy  impracticable. 

Ware  thus  concluded  an  interesting  report  of  the  debate  : 
"  Hearing  all  that  was  said  on  both  sides,  I  was  finally  con- 
vinced that  the  motion  for  such  an  appeal  ought  not  to 
carry." ^ 

On  the  final  vote  O'Kelly's  proposition  was  defeated  by 
a  large  majority. 

The  next  morning  a  letter  was  received  from  him  and 
others,  informing  the  conference  that,  because  an  appeal 
from  the  decision  of  a  superintendent  in  the  making  of  ap- 
pointments was  not  to  be  allowed,  they  could  no  longer  sit 
with  the  body.  Garrettson  and  two  others  were  appointed 
to  treat  with  him.  He  remained  in  the  city,  and  had 
an  interview  with  Bishop  Coke,  raising  many  objections 
against  him  and  against  the  conference ;  the  committee 
could  not  prevail,  and  he  and  the  preachers  whom  he  was 
able  to  persuade  set  off  for  Virginia. 

The  conference  revised  the  Form  of  Discipline,  but  made 
no  alterations  affecting  the  essentials  of  doctrine  and  dis- 
cipline. It  was  decided  to  convene  another  General  Con- 
ference in  four  years,  and  that  all  traveling  preachers  who 
should  at  that  time  be  in  full  connection  should  be  entitled 

1  "  Memoir  of  Rev.  Thomas  Ware,"  pp.  221,  222. 


284  '^^^^  METHODISTS.  [Chai'.  xi. 

to  a  seat.  Provision  was  made  for  the  formation  of  dis- 
tricts, which  was  committed  to  the  judgment  of  the  bish- 
ops, who  also  were  to  appoint  the  time  of  holding  district 
conferences.  In  the  event  of  the  death  of  bishops,  or  of 
their  inability  to  travel  through  the  districts,  they  should 
be  regulated  in  every  respect  by  the  conference  or  pre- 
siding elders,  ordination  excepted.  A  rule  was  made  for 
the  trial  of  bishops,  and  the  office  of  presiding  elder  was 
defined  and  made  legal.  For  several  years  prior  to  this 
such  officers  had  been  appointed  by  the  bishop,  though 
some  doubted  his  power  to  make  such  appointments. 

The  first  rule  limiting  by  time  the  tenure  of  a  particular 
class  of  ministers  was  enacted  at  this  conference ;  it  pro- 
vided that  the  bishops  should  not  have  power  to  appoint 
an  elder  to  preside  in  the  same  district  more  than  four 
successive  years. 

When  the  conference  adjourned,  Asbury  hastened  to  the 
center  of  conflict  in  Virginia.  O'Kelly  had  already  induced 
William  McKendree  and  several  other  preachers  to  decline 
to  go  to  their  appointments.  By  wise  management  As- 
bury effected  a  temporary  compromise,  which  included  a 
proposition  to  give  O'Kelly,  whose  health  was  impaired, 
forty  pounds  per  annum,  the  amount  which  he  received  as 
a  presiding  elder,  provided  he  would  forbear  to  excite  divi- 
sions. He  accepted  the  offer,  and  for  some  time  received 
the  appropriation,  but  afterward  relinquished  it. 

The  contests  between  the  Republicans  and  Federalists 
were  strenuous  and  exciting.  The  Republicans  prevailed, 
and  O'Kelly  formed  a  church  with  the  title  of  Republican 
Methodists.  One  traveling  and  several  local  preachers 
agreed  with  him,  and  they  held  conference  after  conference, 
promising  great  privileges  to  lay  members.  In  some  places 
they  led  away  whole  societies,  and  in  others  threw  the 
church  into  confusion.     Some  meeting-houses  they  seized. 


HAMMETT  AND   MEREDITH  SEPARATE.  285 

and  others  the  Methodists  left  in  order  to  avoid  contention. 
As  the  feud  increased,  O'Kelly  became  violent,  and  de- 
nounced Methodist  ordination  as  spurious ;  yet  himself 
proceeded  to  ordain  others,  and  also  to  preach  heretical 
doctrines.  The  church  divided  upon  the  name,  and  some 
proposed  to  call  themselves  the  Christian  Church;  others 
objected,  holding  that  this  would  imply  that  there  were  no 
Christians  but  of  their  own  party.  Finally  several  of  his 
preachers  seceded,  and  in  less  than  ten  years  they  became 
so  divided  and  subdivided  that  it  was  hard  to  find  two  of 
one  opinion.^ 

A  similar  division  grew  out  of  the  personal  interests  of 
William  Hammett,  who  had  been  minister  of  the  Wesleyan 
connection  in  England,  and  more  recently  a  preacher  in  the 
West  Indies,  and  who  came  to  this  country  early  in  1791. 
After  preaching  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  New  York,  and  Bal- 
timore, he  returned  to  Charleston  and  left  the  Methodists, 
drawing  off  a  large  number  of  the  Society  and  a  few  of 
the  preachers,  who  took  the  name  of  Primitive  Methodists, 
but  their  success  was  of  short  duration. 

Among  Hammett's  adherents  was  William  Meredith,  who 
built  a  large  meeting-house  in  Wilmington,  N.  C,  and  col- 
lected a  numerous  society  of  colored  people,  exerting  an 
excellent  influence  over  them.  Difficulties  arising  between 
Hammett  and  himself,  they  separated.  Meredith  continued 
to  prosper,  and  when  his  meeting-house  was  burned  he 
erected  one  still  larger,  and  at  his  death  bequeathed  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  the  meeting-house,  a  resi- 
dence, and,  so  far  as  he  could  influence  their  choice,  the 
members  of  his  society. 

l^ineteen  conferences  were  held  in  1 793,  and  twelve 
extensive  circuits  with  indefinite  boundaries  (one  being 
entitled  the  Province  of  Maine)  were  added. 

1  Lee's  "  History  of  the  Methodists,"  pp.  202,  203. 


286  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xi. 

Bishop  Asbury  traveled  as  though  determined  to  com- 
pass the  entire  territory  included  within  the  United  States. 
At  one  place  in  South  Carolina  a  gentleman  refused  to 
receive  him  "  for  love,  money,  or  hospitality's  sake,"  and 
he  was  compelled  to  apply  at  the  negro  quarters.  Soon 
afterward  he  was  in  Kentucky  selecting  sites  for  schools, 
and  encountering  serious  opposition  owing  to  the  wild 
state  of  the  country.  The  brethren  were  obliged  to  travel 
armed,  and  formed  a  company  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  for 
defense  against  their  chief  foes,  the  Indians. 

The  success  of  Methodism  in  New  England  occasioned 
systematic  demonstrations  of  hostility.  Magistrates  in 
Connecticut  would  not  recognize  the  preachers  as  regular 
ministers.  George  Roberts  was  fined  for  uniting  two 
Methodists  in  marriage,  and  various  members  of  the  Soci- 
ety were  thrown  into  prison.  Gangs  of  "  lewd  fellows  of 
the  baser  sort,"  with  the  implied  sanction  of  the  better 
class,  often  disturbed  their  meetings.  Little  was  gained  by 
their  opponents  in  oral  debate;  for  almost  all  the  Methodist 
preachers  were  competent  to  defend  themselves.  Thomas 
Ware  was  even  more  successful  in  logical  argument  than 
Jesse  Lee,  although  making  no  use  of  satire,  which  was 
so  efifective  a  weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  latter.  Hope 
Hull  was  so  persuasively  eloquent  that  few  could  resist 
him. 

Nathan  Williams,  A.M.,  a  Congregational  minister,  who 
had  gladly  received  the  Methodist  preachers,  foreseeing 
the  formation  of  a  new  denomination,  which  he  honestly 
deprecated,  delivered  and  published  a  sermon  against  them. 
It  was  accompanied  by  a  letter  from  Dr.  Huntington,  of 
Coventrv,  Conn. 

This  pamphlet  was  issued  with  "  the  unanimous  approba- 
tion of  the  Congregational  Association,  and  at  their  cordial 
request." 


METHODISM  ASSAILED   IX  COXXECTICUT.         287 

Mr.  Williams  denounced  the  pretension  of  a  divine  call 
to  the  ministry,  claiming  that  it  is  tempting  Heaven  to  give 
the  pretender  over  to  delusion.  Dr.  Huntington  alleged 
that  "  the  modern  teachers  are  men  of  Machiavellian  prin- 
ciples, and  do  without  any  scruples  make  use  of  truth  and 
deceit  promiscuously,  as  they  judge  will  most  promote  the 
interest  of  their  party."  He  describes  John  Wesley  as 
"  a  flaming"  enthusiast,  given  to  wild  singularities,"  point- 
ing out  classes  and  class-meetings  as  among  these. 

Roberts  replied  with  striking  ability  and  power  of  sar- 
casm, and  had  an  advantage  in  the  tendency  of  the  popu- 
lar mind,  which  was  against  the  compulsory  support  of  the 
church  by  taxation.  Just  before  he  delivered  his  reply,  a 
Baptist  in  the  vicinity  had  been  imprisoned  for  refusing  to 
pay  the  parish  minister's  rate  on  the  ground  that  he  could 
not  approve  his  creed. 

Methodist  preachers  soon  began  to  avoid  discussion 
whenever  possible,  finding  that  the  primary  object  of  their 
ministry,  the  conversion  of  souls,  could  be  more  effectually 
promoted  by  their  lives  and  labors  than  by  controversy, 
though  for  years  it  was  necessary,  on  certain  occasions, 
to  vindicate  their  doctrines  against  misrepresentation,  and 
their  characters  against  false  charges,  not  only  in  New  Eng- 
land, but  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Williams, 
on  further  acquaintance,  perceiving  only  good  effects  from 
their  labors,  "before  he  died  welcomed  his  Methodist  breth- 
ren to  hold  prayer-meetings  in  his  own  house." 

Thomas  Paine,  who,  during  the  War  of  the  Revolution, 
had  rendered  to  this  country  valuable  services,  was  publish- 
ing his  deistical  works,  which  were  widely  circulated,  and 
received  by  many  with  avidity.  When  Asbury  preached 
in  the  woods  at  the  town  of  Bennington,  Vt.,  he  found  a 
large  congregation,  made  up  of  deists  and  various  sorts  of 
unbelievers. 


288  TJII:    Ml-yilloniSIS.  [Chap.  XI. 

The  secession  of  O'Kelly  reached  its  height  in  i  795,  and, 
combined  with  other  impediments,  caused  a  decrease  of 
4673  members  among  the  whites,  which,  augmented  by  a 
decrease  of  1644  among  the  colored,  made  a  net  loss  of 
nearly  6500.  There  was,  however,  an  increase  of  32 
preachers. 

Soon  after  Daniel  Boone  settled  in  Kentucky,  Methodist 
local  preachers  followed,  and  a  few  years  later  Barnabas 
McHenry,  who,  by  intellect,  piety,  and  labor,  made  rapid 
progress,  and  was  appointed  presiding  elder  in  four  years 
after  he  entered  the  ministry,  which  occurred  before  he  was 
quite  twenty.  He  became  a  master  of  the  English  language, 
a  theologian,  a  proficient  student  of  the  Greek  New  Testa- 
ment, with  sufficient  knowledge  of  Hebrew  and  Latin  to 
enable  him  to  consult  authorities  with  facility.  Although 
suffering  from  disease  induced  by  hardship,  no  minister  of 
the  State,  of  whatever  denomination,  maintained  higher 
intellectual  or  moral  rank.  Indeed,  "  the  adventures  and 
hairbreadth  escapes  of  McHenry,  Lee,  Kobler,  Cook,  Og- 
den,  Burke,  Garrett,  and  others  would  furnish  a  modern 
Tasso  with  matter  for  an  epic."  ^ 

Cokesbury  College  was  burned  on  December  7,  1795. 
The  building  was  of  brick,  three  stories  in  height,  one  hun- 
dred and  eight  feet  in  length,  and  forty  feet  in  breadth.  In- 
tended to  provide  for  the  education  of  the  sons  of  minis- 
ters, for  orphans,  and  for  Methodist  people  generally,  it 
seems  to  have  failed  for  a  variety  of  reasons.  In  1 789  it  had 
thirty  students,  ten  partly  supported  by  charity,  and  some 
maintained,  clothed,  and  educated  gratuitously  ;  Bishop  As- 
bury  was  greatly  encouraged  by  a  revival  among  the  stu- 
dents in  that  year.  By  1 792  the  number  had  increased  to 
seventy,  and  young  gentlemen  of  good  social  position  from 
the  Southern  States  went  to  Cokesbury  to  complete  their 

1  Stevens's  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  296. 


COKESBURV  COLLEGE  DESTROYED.  289 

studies.  The  college  was  incorporated  January  26,  1 794, 
and  authorized  to  confer  degrees  and  enjoy  other  privileges 
and  prerogatives  guaranteed  to  regular  colleges ;  but  the 
New  York  Conference  resolved,  in  view  of  its  embarrassed 
condition,  that  nothing  but  an  English  free  day-school 
should  be  kept  there,  and  the  number  of  professors  was 
reduced  to  two. 

About  twelve  o'clock  on  the  night  of  the  calamity  the 
students  were  roused  by  the  cry  of  "  Fire! "  The  confla- 
gration could  not  be  extinguished,  and  the  building  was  de- 
stroyed, with  the  library,  philosophical  apparatus,  and  im- 
portant papers.  The  governor  offered  a  reward  of  one 
thousand  dollars  for  the  supposed  incendiaries,  but  could 
obtain  no  information  sufficient  to  justify  arrests. 

Asbury's  record  was  characteristic:  "We  have  now  a 
second  and  confirmed  account  that  Cokesbury  College  is 
consumed  to  ashes,  a  sacrifice  of  ten  thousand  pounds 
sterling  in  about  ten  years !  ...  Its  enemies  may  rejoice, 
and  its  friends  need  not  mourn.  Would  any  man  give  me 
ten  thousand  per  year  to  do  and  suff'er  again  what  I  have 
done  for  that  house,  I  would  not  do  it.  The  Lord  called 
neither  Mr.  Whitefield  nor  the  Methodists  to  build  colleges. 
I  wished  only  for  schools ;  Dr.  Coke  wanted  a  college.  I 
feel  distressed  at  the  loss  of  the  library." 

The  second  regular  General  Conference  assembled  in 
Baltimore  on  the  20th  of  October,  i  796,  one  hundred  and 
twenty  ministers  in  attendance.  An  address  was  received 
from  the  British  Conference.  It  reaffirmed  the  cardinal 
principles  of  Methodism,  and  exhorted  the  people  in  Amer- 
ica called  Methodists  to  increased  fidelity  and  zeal,  con- 
cluding: 

"  We  consider  you  a  branch  of  the  same  root  from  which 
we  sprang,  and  of  which  w^e  can  never  think  but  with 


2go  TJIE   MK'J'JIODJsrs.  [Chap.  xi. 

inexpressible    gratitude.   .    .    .    We    are,    dearly    beloved 
brethren, 

"  Your  truly  affectionate  brethren  in  Christ  Jesus, 

"The  English  Conference. 
"  Signed  by  order  and  in  behalf  of  the  conference. 
"  Thomas  Taylor,  President, 
"  Samuel  Bradburn,  Secretary^ 

Various  important  rules  were  enacted,  among  them  a 
Deed  of  Settlement  for  the  security  of  preaching-houses 
and  all  premises  appertaining  thereto;  also  a  requirement 
that  every  traveling  deacon  should  exercise  his  office  for 
two  years  before  being  eligible  to  that  of  elder,  except  in 
the  case  of  missions,  when  the  Yearly  Conferences  might 
elect  theelders  sooner  if  expedient ;  an  addressand  a  system 
of  regulations  concerning  the  education  of  youth  in  semina- 
ries were  adopted,  and  ordered  to  be  printed  in  the  minutes. 

A  rule  declaring  that  the  student  shall  be  "  indulged  with 
nothing  that  the  world  calls  play  "  has  been  made  a  subject 
of  ridicule,  but  only  by  those  ignorant  of  what  was  intended. 
It  was  "worldly"  games — cards,  theaters,  dancing,  and 
every  species  of  play  technically  so  called — to  which  objec- 
tion was  made.  Tradition  says  that  these  students  leaped, 
ran,  wrestled,  and  exhibited  without  restraint  those  natu- 
ral impulses  for  healthful  exercises  in  a  sportive  mood,  and 
were  allowed  in  all  their  so-called  recreations  the  privileges 
of  conversation,  jovial  laughter,  and  every  form  of  pleasing 
social  intercourse.  If  health,  clearness  of  mind,  rapid  prog- 
ress in  learning,  a  situation  favorable  for  forming  habits  of 
morality,  and  a  well-grounded  religious  character  be  con- 
sidered the  ends  sought  by  the  instruction  of  youth,  the 
system  was  almost  perfect.  Wherever  it  was  applied,  the 
proficiency  and  health  of  the  students  was  a  matter  of  com- 
mon remark. 


GENERAL    CONFERENCE    OF  1796.  29 1 

The  "  Chartered  Fund  "  was  to  be  supported  by  volun- 
tary contributions,  the  principal  being  funded  under  the 
direction  of  trustees,  and  the  interest  applied,  according  to 
certain  regulations,  for  the  relief  of  "  distressed  traveling 
preachers,  their  families,  worn-out  preachers,  and  the  widows 
and  orphans  of  preachers."  A  pathetic  description  of  the 
sufferings,  premature  death,  and  dire  distress  of  those  in 
"  age  and  feebleness  extreme,"  and  of  widows  and  orphans, 
is  made  the  basis  of  an  earnest  appeal,  which  was  strength- 
ened by  the  fact  that  many  of  the  most  efficient  had  been 
"  obliged  to  retire  from  the  general  work  because  they  saw 
nothing  before  them  for  their  wives  and  children,  if  they 
continued  itinerants,  but  misery  and  ruin." 

Additional  stringent  rules  were  made  against  slavery. 

The  conference  explained  that  Methodists  were  "  not 
prohibited  from  marrying  persons  not  of  the  Society,"  pro- 
vided such  "  have  the  form  and  are  seeking  the  power  of 
godliness."  If  they  wedded  those  who  did  not  come  up 
to  this  description  it  would  be  necessary  to  expel  them.  In 
a  doubtful  case  the  member  of  the  Society  must  be  "  put 
back  upon  trial." 

The  regulations  concerning  the  sale  and  use  of  spirituous 
liquors  are : 

"  Q/u's.  What  directions  shall  be  given  concerning  the 
sale  and  use  of  spirituous  liquors? 

"  Ans.  If  any  member  of  our  Society  retail  or  give 
spirituous  liquors,  and  anything  disorderly  be  transacted 
under  his  roof  on  this  account,  the  preacher  who  has  the 
oversight  of  the  circuit  shall  proceed  against  him  as  in  the 
case  of  other  immoralities  ;  and  the  person  accused  shall 
be  cleared,  censured,  suspended,  or  excluded,  according 
to  his  conduct,  as  on  other  charges  of  immorality." 

This  does  not  prohibit  the  retailing  or  giving  of  spirit- 
uous liquors,  or  subject  the  member  to  penalty  or  inquiry, 


292  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xi. 

unless  something  disorderly  is  transacted  "  under  his  roof  " 
on  account  of  the  effects  of  the  liquor.  The  conference 
adds  this  note :  "  Far  be  it  from  us  to  wish  or  endeavor  to 
intrude  upon  the  private  religious  or  civil  liberty  of  any  of 
our  people ;  but  the  retailing  of  spirituous  liquors,  and  giv- 
ing drams  to  customers  when  the\-  call  at  the  stores,  are 
such  prevalent  customs  at  present,  and  are  productive  of 
so  many  evils,  that  we  judge  it  our  indispensable  duty  to 
form  a  regulation  against  them.  The  cause  of  God,  which 
we  prefer  to  every  other  consideration  under  heaven,  ab- 
solutely requires  us  to  step  forth  with  humble  boldness  in 
this  respect." 

It  was  ordered  that  another  bishop  should  be  elected  and 
ordained.  After  this  decision  was  reached  a  difficulty  arose 
concerning  the  manner  of  choosing  or  electing  a  man  to 
be  ordained  a  bishop,  and  before  the  point  was  settled  Coke 
begged  that  the  business  should  be  laid  over  until  the  after- 
noon, which  was  done.  "  When  we  met  in  the  afternoon," 
continues  Lee,  "  the  doctor  offered  himself  to  us  if  we  saw 
cause  to  take  him,  and  promised  to  .serve  us  in  the  best 
manner  he  could,  and  to  be  entirely  at  the  disposal  of  his 
American  brethren,  and  to  live  or  die  among  them."  ^  The 
conference  agreed  to  this  proposition,  and  concluded  two 
bishops  would  be  sufficient  if  he  remained.  Coke  then 
presented  the  following  instrument : 

"  I  offer  myself  to  my  American  brethren  entirely  to 
their  service,  all  I  am  and  have,  with  my  talents  and  labors 
in  every  respect,  without  any  mental  reservation  whatso- 
ever, to  labor  among  them,  and  to  assist  Bishop  Asbury ; 
not  to  station  the  preachers  at  any  time  when  he  is  pres- 
ent, but  to  exercise  all  the  episcopal  duties  when  I  hold 
a  conference  in  his  absence  and  by  his  consent;  and  to 

1  "  History  ul  tlic  Methodists,"  p.  247. 


LOSSES  AND   GAINS.  293 

visit  the  West  Indies  and  France  when  there  is  an  opening, 
and  I  can  be  spared. 

"  Signed, 

"  Thomas  Coke. 

"  Conference  Room,  Baltimore, 
"  October  27,  1796." 

In  this  year  there  was  a  loss  of  2627  members;  for 
three  years  there  had  been  an  annual  decline,  amounting 
in  all  to  nearly  1 1,000  members.  The  losses  were  mostly 
in  the  Middle  States,  where  prevailed  the  divisive  spirit 
of  which  O' Kelly  was  the  chief  center.  The  number  of 
preachers  admitted  on  trial  was  ten  less  than  the  number 
lost  from  the  traveling  connection.  Nine  had  died,  twenty- 
eight  located,  two  had  withdrawn,  and  one  had  been  ex- 
pelled. 

On  the  6th  of  February,  i  797,  Coke  embarked  for  Eng- 
land. Asbury  traveled  to  and  fro,  but  on  account  of  ill- 
ness was  obliged  to  rest  four  months  in  the  year.  Accom- 
panied by  Lee,  he  went  as  far  north  as  Maine  in  April, 
1798,  returning  South  in  October.  He  urged  Lee  to  re- 
turn and  "assist  him  in  the  South :  "  You  and  every  man 
who  thinks  properly  will  find  that  it  will  never  do  to  divide 
the  North  from  the  South.  Methodism  is  union  all  over: 
union  in  exchange  of  preachers,  union  in  exchange  of  senti- 
ments, union  in  exchange  of  interest.  We  must  draw  re- 
sources from  the  center  to  the  circumference." 

In  1797  there  was  an  addition  of  about  2000  members; 
39  young  preachers  were  admitted  on  trial,  43  of  the 
traveling  preachers  located,  2  were  expelled,  and  2  died. 

Unable  to  attend  the  conference  in  New  England,  As- 
bury wrote  Lee  a  mournful  letter  "  respecting  the  sufferings 
of  his  body,"  asking  him  to  travel  with  him,  or  in  case  of 
necessity  to  take  his  appointments  in  the  South.  The  con- 
ference by  vote  chose  Lee  to  preside  and  to  station  the 


294  "^^^  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xi. 

preachers,  and  at  the  close  gave  him  a  certificate  signify- 
ing their  approbation  of  the  bishop's  plan  for  their  travel- 
ing together. 

Wherever  Asbury  went  he  gave  up  the  presidency  to 
the  presiding  elders,  and  in  his  addresses  to  the  conferences 
deplored  the  weakness  of  the  episcopacy. 

There  was  an  increase  of  1506  members  in  1798.  The 
death  of  John  Dickins,  of  the  yellow  fever,  in  Philadelphia, 
in  the  fifty-second  year  of  his  age,  was  declared  in  the  min- 
utes to  be  "  more  sensibly  felt  than  that  of  any  other  preacher 
who  has  died  since  American  Methodism  arose."  His  ser- 
vices cannot  be  overestimated.  It  was  he  who  proposed 
the  title  of  "The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church."  Four 
years  before  Coke's  arrival  he  had  suggested  to  Asbury  the 
plan  of  a  Methodist  academic  institution.  He  was  born 
and  educated  in  London,  was  a  master  of  Latin  and  Greek, 
and  was  especially  learned  in  mathematics.  He  founded 
the  Methodist  Book  Concern,  and  "  his  skill  and  fidelity  as 
editor,  inspector,  and  corrector  of  the  press  were  exceed- 
ingly great."  Ezekiel  Cooper  was  appointed  editor  and 
general  book-steward,  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the 
death  of  Dickins. 

Methodism  was  established  in  Augusta,  Ga.,  in  1799, 
and  Tobias  Gibson  preached  at  Natchez,  on  the  Mississippi, 
being  the  first  Methodist  preacher  that  went  into  that  wil- 
derness. Although  so  ill  as  to  be  unable  to  take 'a  circuit, 
and  making  the  tour  for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  he  was 
the  means  of  the  conversion  of  many  settlers  and  of  the 
establishment  of  a  society. 

The  total  number  of  members  in  1799  was  61,351,  of 
whom,  as  before,  about  one  in  five  were  colored.  The 
number  of  traveling  preachers  was  272.  There  were  three 
deaths  among  the  ministers,  the  most  noteworthy  being  that 
of  Hezekiah  Calvin  Wooster,  who  commenced  his  ministry 


ASBURY  PROPOSES    TO   RESIGN.  295 

in  Massachusetts  in  1793,  later  spending  two  years  upon 
circuits  in  New  Jersey  and  New  York,  and  in  Canada  toil- 
ing three  years,  preaching  almost  daily. 

The  year  1800  was  very  prosperous,  and  in  every  part 
of  the  country  there  was  a  gain  except  in  Pennsylvania, 
where  was  a  decrease  of  122. 

The  third  regular  General  Conference  assembled  in  Bal- 
timore on  the  6th  of  May,  1 19  being  present. 

Asbury  had  informed  preachers  in  different  parts  of  the 
connection  that  on  account  of  mental  weariness  and  phys- 
ical feebleness  he  intended  to  resign  his  position  as  super- 
intendent of  the  Methodist  connection,  and  would  take 
his  seat  in  the  conference  on  a  level  with  the  elders;  and 
he  had  written  his  resignation  with  the  intention  to  deliver 
it  as  soon  as  the  conference  met.  He  was  therefore  asked 
to  state  what  he  had  determined  to  do.  In  response  he  said 
that  his  affliction  had  been  such  that  he  had  been  under 
the  necessity  of  having  a  companion,  that  his  debility  had 
several  times  obliged  him  to  locate,  that  he  could  only 
travel  in  a  carriage,  and  he  did  not  know  whether  this  con- 
ference as  a  body  was  satisfied  with  such  parts  of  his 
conduct. 

On  motion  of  Cooper,  the  conference  unanimously  re- 
solved that  they  "  considered  themselves  under  many  and 
great  obligations  to  Mr.  Asbury  for  the  many  and  great 
services  he  has  rendered  to  this  connection  ;  .  .  .  and  that 
this  General  Conference  do  earnestly  entreat  Mr.  Asbury 
for  a  continuation  of  his  services  as  one  of  the  general 
superintendents  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  as  far 
as  his  strength  will  permit."^ 

The  situation  concerning  the  episcopacy  was  seriously 
complicated.  When  Coke  returned  from  England  in  1797, 
he  brought  an  address  from  the  British  Conference  to 
1  "  General  Conference  Journals,"  vol.  i.,  p.  2,Z- 


296  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xi. 

American  Methodists,  in  which  they  urged  that  he  might 
be  allowed  to  return  to  Europe  speedily. 

The  address  was  submitted  to  the  Virginia  Conference, 
and  Asbury,  with  their  approbation,  addressed  a  letter  to 
the  British  Conference,  and  then  unofficially  consented  to 
Coke's  tarrying  for  a  time  in  England,  which  the  latter 
having  done,  he  now  appeared  to  fulfill  his  engagement  made 
in  I  796  or  to  be  honorably  released.  The  conference  com- 
plied with  the  request  of  the  English  body  upon  condition 
that  Coke  return  to  America  as  soon  as  his  business  would 
allow,  but  certainly  by  the  next  General  Conference. 

It  was  decided  by  a  large  majority  that  one  bishop 
should  be  elected  and  ordained,  and  that  the  vote  should 
be  taken  by  ballot. 

Various  propositions  were  rejected,  which  if  adopted 
would  have  made  Methodism  something  radically  different 
from  that  which  it  has  become,  and  it  was  determined  that 
the  bishops  were  to  be  equal  in  every  particular. 

The  reisult  of  the  first  ballot,  which  was  "  supposed  de- 
fective," was  a  tie,  and  upon  the  second  there  were  fifty- 
nine  votes  for  Richard  Whatcoat,  fifty-five  for  Jesse  Lee, 
and  one  blank.  Whatcoat  was  in  the  sixty- fifth  year  of  his 
age  when  elected.  As  a  preacher,  his  pathos  was  all-sub- 
duing, so  that  congregations  were  moved  "  as  the  leaves 
of  a  forest  by  the  power  of  a  mighty  wind."  To  this,  says 
Dr.  Bangs,  was  added  a  meekness  and  modesty  of  spirit 
which,  united  with  simplicity  of  intention  and  gravity  of  de- 
portment, commended  him  as  a  pattern  worthy  of  imitation. 
"  Under  the  guise  of  a  modest  and  unassuming  manner 
he  also  possessed,  like  his  old  friend  and  classmate,  Asbury, 
though  in  an  inferior  degree,  the  gift  and  faculty  of  au- 
thority." ' 

It  was  shown  that  the  existing  rule  which  prevented  the 

1  "  Lives  of  Methodist  Bishops,"  p.  n6. 


ANTI SLAVERY  LEGISLATION.  297 

members  from  increasing  the  number  of  their  slaves  by 
purchase  tolerated  an  increase  by  birth,  and  also  that  the 
removal  of  members  from  one  State  to  another  caused  the 
leaving  of  a  husband  or  a  wife  behind  held  in  bondage  by 
another,  thus  separating  man  and  wife,  which  was  a  vio- 
lation of  the  laws  of  God,  and  contrary  to  the  peace  and 
happiness  of  families.  After  the  rejection  of  various  prop- 
ositions to  strengthen  the  rule,  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  prepare  an  affectionate  address  to  the  Methodist  societies, 
pointing  out  the  evil  of  the  spirit  and  practice  of  slavery, 
and  the  necessity  of  doing  away  with  it  so  far  as  the  laws  of 
the  respective  States  would  allow,  and  that  the  said  address 
be  laid  before  the  conference  for  its  consideration,  and  if 
agreed  to,  be  signed  by  the  bishops.  A  committee  was 
also  appointed  to  draft  proper  addresses  to  the  State  legis- 
latures from  year  to  year  for  the  gradual  abolition  of  slav- 
ery. It  was  also  ordered  that  if  by  any  means  any  of  the 
traveling  preachers  became  owners  of  a  slave  or  slaves 
they  should  forfeit  their  ministerial  character  in  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  unless,  if  practicable,  they  executed 
legaL  emancipation  of  such  slave  or  slaves. 

A  greater  revival  took  place  in  Baltimore  at  this  confer- 
ence than  had  occurred  during  the  session  of  any  previous 
General  Conference.  The  sermon  preached  on  Sunday 
morning  by  Coke  was  followed  by  the  ordination  of  What- 
coat  to  the  ofifice  of  bishop  by  Coke  and  Asbury,  assisted 
by  several  elders.  Henry  Boehm,  traveling  companion  of 
Asbury,  and  intimately  acquainted  with  Whatcoat,  charac- 
terizes the  scene  in  a  single  sentence :  "  Never  were  holy 
hands  laid  upon  a  holier  head."  Lee  preached  a  wonder- 
ful sermon  in  the  market-house  that  afternoon. 

As  the  preachers  returned  to  their  stations  they  nat- 
urally carried  with  them  the  influence  of  this  revival,  and 
lighted  similar  flames  wherever  they  went. 


298  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xi. 

In  and  near  the  place  where  was  held  the  first  Annual 
Conference  after  the  adjournment  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence, not  far  from  Baltimore,  within  a  few  days  one  hun- 
dred and  seventeen  joined  the  Society.  At  the  same  time 
in  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  arose  the  most  remarkable  re- 
vival of  religion  ever  seen  in  the  West.  In  Philadelphia, 
in  the  western  part  of  Maryland,  in  Vermont,  in  New  Hamp- 
shire, in  Connecticut,  especially  in  the  Tolland  circuit  and  in 
New  London,  there  was  a  greater  work  in  the  conversion 
of  souls  than  had  ever  been  known.  Similar  results  fol- 
lowed the  preaching  of  Methodist  ministers  during  the  year 
1 80 1,  many  thousands  being  added  to  the  societies. 

During  this  period  "camp-meetings"  arose.  Late  in 
1799  or  early  in  1800  John  and  William  Magee,  brothers, 
the  first  a  Methodist  local  preacher,  the  second  a  Presby- 
terian minister,  started  from  their  settlement  in  Tennessee 
to  make  a  preaching-tour  into  Kentucky.  Such  interest 
attended  their  work  that  at  the  next  meeting  many  families 
encamped  in  the  woods.  The  cooperation  of  these  brothers 
was  so  pleasing  an  example  of  fraternity  that  the  earliest 
camp-meetings  included  members  of  every  denomination.^ 

Sometimes  as  many  as  twenty  thousand  were  present. 
Presbyterian  and  Methodist  ministers  united  in  the  work. 
The  assemblage  divided  into  groups,  which  were  addressed 
by  as  many  speakers.  So  many  were  struck  to  the  ground 
at  one  meeting  that,  to  prevent  their  being  trodden  under- 
foot by  the  multitude,  they  were  laid  out  in  order  on  two 
squares  of  the  central  meeting-house.  But  at  another  meet- 
ing, at  Cane  Ridge,  the  number  that  fell  was  reckoned  at 
three  thousand,  among  whom  were  several  Presbyterian 
ministers,  who,  according  to  their  own  confession,  had  pre- 
viously possessed  only  a  speculative  knowledge  of  religion. 

The  Presbyterians  ceased  to  take  interest  in  the  meetings 
1  "  Methodist  Magazine"  for  1821,  p.  189. 


CAMP-MEETINGS,  REVIVALS,  MOBS.  299 

because  of  the  excitement  which  attended  them.  It  was 
not  in  harmony  with  the  genius  of  that  body. 

Able  men  were  recruited  by  Western  Methodism  for 
the  ministry,  among  them  Jacob  Young.  PhiHp  Gatch, 
so  effective  in  the  East,  had  now  become  influential 
in  Ohio.  For  years  he  sat  as  a  magistrate  on  the  bench 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  was  a  delegate  to  the 
convention  which  framed  the  State  constitution.  Scott, 
another  of  the  early  Methodist  preachers,  became  judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio ;  and  the  societies,  instead  of 
being  regarded  as  ephemeral,  in  a  very  few  years  included 
among  their  members  many,  and  in  some  sections  most,  of 
the  substantial  citizens. 

A  revival  in  1801  extended  along  the  shore  of  Lake 
Ontario  to  Niagara,  and  thence  to  Long  Point  on  the 
northwestern  shore  of  Lake  Erie.  The  Long  Point  circuit 
was  formed  in  the  latter  part  of  1802,  chiefly  through  the 
labors  of  Nathan  Bangs.  Among  the  names  not  to  be  for- 
gotten are  those  of  James  Coleman,  C.  Warner,  a  layman, 
Sylvanus  Keeler,  and  Seth  Crowell.  The  work  also  ex- 
tended into  Lower  Canada. 

Antislavery  agitations,  and  especially  the  resolutions  of 
Methodist  conferences  memorializing  legislatures  against 
slavery,  created  a  serious  disturbance  in  Charleston,  S.  C, 
where  were  stationed  George  Dougherty  and  John  Harper. 
Harper  had  received  some  pamphlets  containing  those 
resolutions,  and  that  fact,  becoming  known,  caused  great 
excitement.  The  obnoxious  documents  were  demanded 
by  the  mayor,  and  burned  in  his  presence;  and  a  mob 
gathered  to  assault  Harper,  who  escaped  ;  but  his  colleague, 
Dougherty,  was  dragged  to  the  pump,  and  would  have 
been  suffocated  had  not  Mrs.  Kingsley,  a  godly  woman, 
rushed  forward  and,  placing  herself  between  the  crowd  and, 
their  victim,  stuffed  her  shawl  into  the  spout.    Astonished, 


300  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xi. 

they  paused,  and  at  that  instant  a  gentleman  of  high  char- 
acter stepped  with  drawn  sword  among  them,  took  Dough- 
erty by  the  hand,  and,  declaring  his  purpose  to  protect  him 
at  all  hazards,  led  him  away. 

Dougherty  was  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  early  be- 
came a  Methodist,  and,  being  a  teacher,  was  subject  to 
persecution  as  the  "  Methodist  schoolmaster,"  and  treated 
with  indignity  by  every  crowd  through  which  he  passed. 
Sprague's  "  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit  "  '  contains  an 
elaborate  description  of  him  by  Lovick  Pierce,  who  had  fre- 
quently heard  him  preach,  and  who  says  that  his  supremacy 
as  a  preaclier  in  his  day  was  never  disputed  by  any  com- 
petent witness.  The  effects  of  the  exposure  which  he  en- 
dured by  being  drenched  with  cold  water  in  the  way  de- 
scribed were  permanent.  He  sank  into  consumption,  and 
died  prematurely. 

There  was  a  difficulty  in  the  Methodist  church  of  Phil- 
adelphia in  1802,  which  resulted  in  the  withdrawal  of  many 
members.  They  adhered  to  the  doctrines  of  Methodism, 
and  wished  to  be  governed  by  its  discipline,  but  not  being 
able  to  harmonize  with  those  from  whom  they  seceded,  they 
established  a  separate  place  of  worship  in  a  building  erected 
for  an  academy  by  George  Whitefield.  Nevertheless  they 
made  an  appeal  to  the  bishop  to  send  them  a  Methodist 
preacher,  and  it  was  agreed,  with  only  one  dissenting  vote, 
that  their  request  should  be  granted  on  such  terms  as  the 
bishop  could  make.  This  furnished  a  precedent  for  similar 
adjustments  elsewhere. 

Methodism  was  now  rapidly  increasing,  adding  33  preach- 
ers in  the  year  1803,  and  i  7,366  members,  of  whom  a  little 
more  than  one  quarter  were  colored. 
1  Pages  291-295. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

TROUBLOUS    YET    SUCCESSFUL   YEARS. 

The  fourth  regular  General  Conference  convened  in 
Baltimore,  May  7,  1804,  with  Coke,  Asbury,  and  Whatcoat 
present. 

■  Coke  moved  that  "  no  regulation  or  law  should  finally 
pass  the  conference  until  it  had  been  read  at  three  distinct 
sittings,  and  had  received  the  approbation  of  the  conference 
each  time."  This  attempt  to  introduce  English  parlia- 
mentary law  was  defeated  by  fifty-six  negative  votes  in 
a  total  of  one  hundred  and  three.  He  then  moved  that 
"  no  new  regulation  or  law  should  finally  pass  the  con- 
ference until  it  had  been  read  at  three  distinct  sittings." 
This  also  was  lost. 

The  Articles  of  Religion  had  been  adopted  prior  to  the 
close  of  the  Revolutionary  War;  consequently  the  words 
"  Constitution  of  the  United  States  "  were  now  substituted 
for  the  "General  Act  of  Confederation,"  and  the  declara- 
tion was  inserted  that  the  said  States  are  a  "  sovereign  and 
independent  nation,"  and  "  ought  not  to  be  subject  to  any 
foreign  jurisdiction." 

Only  those  who  had  "  regularly  traveled  four  years" 
were  eligible  to  membership  in  the  General  Conference, 
and  it  resolved  that  the  time  of  any  preacher's  travel- 
ing under  the  direction  of  a  presiding  elder  should  not 
be  reckoned  as  a  part  of  his  probation,  which  should  date 

301 


302  THE  METHODISTS.  [CiiAi-.  xii. 

from  his  reception  by  a  conference.  This  action  deter- 
mined the  ineligibility  of  Taylor  of  the  Western  Conference, 
and  Ryan,  Lyon,  Gruber,  and  Knowlton  of  the  Philadel- 
phia. It  would  appear  that  considerable  excitement  at- 
tended some  of  the  debates;  for  Bishop  Whatcoat  "arose 
to  recommend  the  separation  of  passion  or  ill  will  in  debate, 
and  that  reason  should  rule  in  every  loving  contest."  ^ 
Coke  was  allowed  to  return  to  Europe,  on  condition  that 
he  should  hold  himself  subject  to  the  call  of  three  of 
the  Annual  Conferences  to  return,  and  at  the  furthest 
should  attend  the  next  General  Conference. 

After  long  discussion  of  several  motions  on  slavery, 
Freeborn  Garrettson  moved  that  "  the  subject  of  slavery 
be  left  to  the  three  bishops,  to  form  a  section  to  suit 
the  Southern  and  Northern  States  as  they  in  their  wis- 
dom may  think  best,  to  be  submitted  to  the  conference." 
Bishop  Asbury  refused  to  act  upon  that  v^ote,  the  result 
of  which  was  a  variety  of  motions,  ending  in  the  adoption 
of  a  resolution,  proposed  by  Ezekiel  Cooper,  that  "  a  com- 
mittee be  formed,  one  from  each  conference,  to  take  the 
different  motions  and  report  concerning  slavery."  Finally 
an  elaborate  system  was  adopted,  reaffirming  the  evil,  in- 
structing the  conference  and  elders  to  be  cautious  in  ad- 
mitting persons  to  official  stations,  requiring  security  from 
slave-holders,  and  compelling  any  tra\eling  preacher  be- 
coming the  owner  of  a  slave  to  forfeit  his  ministerial  au- 
thority unless  he  would  execute  a  legal  emancipation  con- 
formable to  the  law  of  his  State.  To  every  slave-holder  the 
preacher  must  speak  fully  and  faithfully  on  this  subject,  and 
every  member  of  the  Society  selling  a  slave,  except  at  his 
or  her  request  in  cases  of  mercy  and  humanit)',  with  the  ap- 
probation of  a  committee  of  three  male  members  appointed 
by  the  preacher,  shall  be  excluded  from  the  Society.  It 
1  "  General  Conference  Journals,"  vol.  i.,  p.  53. 


TIME  LIMrr  FOR    THE   PASTORATE.  303 

was  ordered  that  if  any  member  purchased  a  slave  he 
should  submit  to  the  judgment  of  the  Quarterly  Confer- 
ence, which  should  fix  the  number  of  years  which  the  said 
slave  must  serve  to  redeem  himself ;  and  the  owner  should 
be  excluded  if  he  would  not  conform  and  execute  a  legal 
instrument,  varying  as  the  slave  was  male  or  female,  and 
providing  for  the  manumission  of  children.  And  if  any 
member  of  the  Society  bought  a  slave  with  a  certificate 
of  future  emancipation,  the  terms  thereof  should  be  sub- 
ject to  the  decision  of  the  Quarterly  Conference.  But 
this  stringent  paragraph  closes  thus :  "  Nevertheless  the 
membership  of  our  societies  in  the  States  of  North  Caro- 
lina, South  Carolina,  and  Georgia  shall  be  exempted  from 
the  operation  of  the  above  rules." 

A  motion  to  abolish  presiding  elders  was  lost  after  long 
debate  by  a  very  narrow  margin.  Authority  was  given 
to  remove  the  Book  Concern  from  Philadelphia  to  New 
York,  and  Cooper  was  reelected  general  superintendent 
thereof.  Although  the  conference  ostensibly  sat  in  secret 
session,  a  resolution  was  passed  admitting  as  spectators 
official  members  of  the  church.  A  resolution  of  unusual 
importance  was  passed  which  provided  that  the  bishop 
should  not  allow  any  preacher  to  remain  in  the  same 
station  more  than  two  years  successively,  except  the  pre- 
siding elders,  superannuated  and  worn-out  preachers.  A 
motion  to  add  to  this  "  except  in  cases  of  sickness  of 
families  "  was  lost. 

The  tendency  to  increased  length  of  term  of  service  had 
become  marked.  As  the  city  of  New  York  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  British,  and  thereby  communication  with 
the  conference  was  cut  off",  Samuel  Spraggs,  by  arrange- 
ment with  the  people,  had  served  as  pastor  of  John 
Street  for  five  years  in  succession ;  yet  it  was  thought  by 
the  conference  a  wise  policy  to  appoint  him  for  a  sixth  year, 


304  ^^Jf^-   METHODISTS.  [CiiAP.  xii. 

associating  with  hiin  John  Dickins,  who  was  reappointed 
the  next  year. 

Wesley  wrote  to  Asbury,  September  30,  1785:  "At 
the  next  conference  it  will  be  worth  your  while  to  con- 
sider deeply  whether  any  preacher  should  stay  in  one 
place  three  years  together.  I  startle  at  this.  It  is  a  vehe- 
ment alteration  in  the  Methodist  discipline.  We  have  no 
such  custom  in  England,  Scotland,  or  Ireland." 

Asbury  wrote  to  Thomas  Morrell  in  i  793  :  "  I  am  con- 
vinced there  ought  to  be  a  change  general!}',  presiding 
elders  and  others;  this  I  aim  at,  but  there  are  great  diffi- 
culties. I  see  the  propriety  of  having  men  to  command 
that  are  firmly  fixed  in  our  church  government  and  are 
as  heartily  united  to  the  president  of  the  connection.  All 
my  woods  and  wilderness  troubles  vanish  in  a  moment 
when  I  have  to  take  one  single  grain  of  conference  tartar."  ^ 

A  case  which  some  years  later  gave  Asbury  trouble  was 
that  of  the  Rev.  Cyrus  Stebbins.  A  man  of  influence  with 
the  cultivated  classes,  he  had  been  stationed  in  Brooklyn 
and  New  York,  and  was  in  1800  appointed  to  Alban)-,  re- 
appointed the  next  year,  and  again,  and  for  a  fourth  time. 
More  than  one  of  these  appointments  were  made  against 
the  convictions  and  wishes  of  Asbury,  under  the  pressure  of 
Stebbins  and  a  self-constituted  committee  claiming  to  rep- 
resent the  society,  and  under  the  threat  that  to  remove  him 
would  rend  the  church.  When  Stebbins  was  removed  he 
became  dissatisfied,  and  withdrew  from  the  Methodists, 
becoming  a  minister  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  in 
which  body  he  commanded  the  respect  of  bishops,  clergy, 
and  laity.  Wakeley  states  that  the  reason  for  withdrawal 
which  Stebbins  assigned  was  unbelief  in  the  doctrine  of 
Christian  perfection  as  held  by  Methodists. 

1  No.  17  of  the  Morrell  Letters,  "  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal,"  Feb- 
ruary 13,  185 1. 


AARON  HUNT'S  ACCOUNT.  305 

A  detailed  history  of  the  origin  of  this  time-Hmit  was 
communicated  in  a  letter  to  the  "  Christian  Advocate  "  by 
the  late  Aaron  Hunt,  over  the  signature  of  "  Luther." 

"  The  circumstances  which  led  to  the  adoption  of  that 
rule  are  not  fully  known  at  this  day.  Soon  after  the  com- 
mencement of  the  present  century  two  or  three  cases  oc- 
curred which  gave  the  Bishop  great  annoyance.  Some 
preachers,  finding  themselves  in  pleasant  stations,  and  (by 
the  aid  of  self-constituted  committees)  believing,  of  course, 
that  they  could  do  better  in  the  place  than  any  one  else, 
objected  to  removal,  while  the  more  pious  part  of  the 
society  would  have  preferred  a  change,  but  the  officious 
committee  prevailed.  One  of  these  unhappy  cases  came 
under  our  personal  knowledge  when  in  company  with  the 
Bishop,  which  gave  the  venerable  Asbury  much  anxiety, 
seeing  that  to  remove  the  incuvibent  ivoiild  rend  the  society, 
and  that  to  leave  him  would  result  in  injury  to  the  Chureh. 
Finally  they  prevailed,  and  evil  followed.  In  conversation 
with  the  bishop  we  suggested  the  above  rule,  to  which  he 
pleasantly  replied,  *  So,  then,  you  would  restrict  the  ap- 
pointing power?'  'Nay,  sir,'  was  the  reply;  'we  would 
aid  its  execution,  for  in  the  present  case  it  seems  to  be 
deficient.' 

"  His  laconic  reply  of  '  So,  so,'  encouraged  me  at  the  en- 
suing General  Conference  of  1804  to  present  the  resolution, 
which  was  signed  and  seconded  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Totten, 
of  the  Philadelphia  Conference.  ...  Of  course  it  was  laid 
on  the  table  for  the  present.  It  was  talked  over  out  of 
doors,  and  scanned  in  all  its  bearings  by  the  fireside,  and 
when  called  up  again,  after  some  discussion,  it  passed  with 
a  very  general  vote."  ^ 

Papers  in  the  hands  of  Dr.  Albert  S.  Hunt,  secretary  of 
the  American  Bible  Society,  and  grandson  of  Aaron  Hunt, 

1  "  Christian  Advocate,"  July  12,  1883. 


3o6  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chai-.  xii. 

show  that  the  case  referred  to  in  his  letter  was  that  of 
Stebbins. 

Lee's  account  of  the  matter  is:  "  In  some  cases  prior  to 
that  rule  the  bishop  had  appointed  a  preacher  or  preachers 
to  the  same  place  for  three  years  together.  We  now  de- 
termined on  a  better  plan,  and  formed  this  rule  to  prevent 
any  preacher  from  wishing  or  expecting  such  an  appoint- 
ment in  future." ^ 

For  a  considerable  period  after  the  Revolutionary  War 
the  Methodism  of  the  British  provinces  was  connected 
directly  with  that  of  the  United  States.  Methodism  began 
in  Nova  Scotia  in  1779,  as  a  result  of  the  conversion  of 
William  Black,  who  had  been  led  to  embrace  its  doctrines 
and  seek  its  experience  by  conversation  with  certain  Meth- 
odists newly  arrived  from  Yorkshire,  and  by  the  reading 
of  the  Rev.  John  Wesley's  sermons.  Black  was  zealous 
and  sagacious,  and  seven  years  later  visited  Coke  and 
Asbury  at  the  Christmas  conference.  He  also  went  to 
Philadelphia  and  New  York,  and  was  ordained  by  Coke  as 
deacon  and  elder,  and  obtained  from  the  American  confer- 
ence six  additional  missionaries  for  the  colonies.  In  the 
minutes  of  American  Methodism  for  1791  the  preachers 
for  the  provinces  were  thus  distributed :  William  Black, 
elder ;  Halifax,  William  Jessop,  John  Mann ;  Liverpool, 
Thomas  Whitehead  ;  Shelburne,  William  Early  ;  Cumber- 
land, Benjamin  Fisler ;  Newport,  John  Cooper;  St.  Johns, 
John  Ragan  ;  Annapolis,  James  Boyd. 

But  these  were  not  the  first  American  preachersappointed 
to  the  Eastern  provinces,  for  at  the  Christmas  conference 
Freeborn  Garrettson  volunteered  for  Nova  Scotia,  and  em- 
barked for  Halifax,  where  he  established  a  society.  He 
was  accompanied  by  James  O.  Cromwell. 

The  progress  of  Methodism  in  these  colonies  under  the 

1  Lee's  "  History  of  the  Methodists,"  pp.  298,  299. 


METHODISM  IN   THE  BRITISH  COLONIES.  307 

preaching"  and  superintendence  of  the  men  thus  sent  forth 
was  most  encouraging,  and  Garrettson's  influence  was 
ahnost  equal  to  that  of  Wesley  in  Europe  and  Asbury 
in  the  United  States.  The  correspondence  between  Wesley 
and  Garrettson  concerning  this  work  contains  information 
of  inestimable  value.  When  Garrettson  sailed  from  Nova 
Scotia  for  Boston,  April  10,  1787,  he  left  as  evidence  of 
his  fidelity  and  success  in  his  Lord's  vineyard  about  six 
hundred  members  in  the  various  societies. 

New  Brunswick,  Prince  Edward  Island,  and  Cape  Bret- 
on had  received  Methodism  and  all  its  institutions  from 
Nova  Scotia  prior  to  1802,  but  by  1804  the  American 
preachers  were  withdrawn  from  these  provinces,  and  so  far 
as  they  were  supplied  it  was  from  England. 

According  to  the  best  Canadian  authorities,  Methodism 
was  introduced  into  the  island  of  Newfoundland  by  Law- 
rence Coughland  a  few  months  prior  to  Embury's  first  ser- 
mon in  the  city  of  New  York.  Coughland  had  been  received 
on  trial  in  1755  by  Wesley.  A  number  of  Yorkshire  Meth- 
odists settled,  in  1772,  in  Nova  Scotia,  and  a  year  later, 
when  he  returned  to  England,  Coughland's  work  had  pros- 
pered to  such  an  extent  that  there  were  enough  local 
preachers  to  keep  the  societies  alive  for  the  next  twelve 
years.  The  British  Conference,  in  i  785,  regularly  appointed 
John  McGeary  to  that  island.  The  following  year  a 
provincial  Methodist  conference  was  held  in  Halifax,  at 
which  five  hundred  and  ten  members  were  reported  and 
six  preachers  stationed. 

A  local  preacher  and  soldier  named  Tuffy  had  preached 
the  first  Methodist  sermon  in  Quebec  in  1780,  and  meet- 
ings were  held  at  irregular  intervals  at  different  points. 
George  Neal,  an  Irish  local  preacher,  zealously  and  effect- 
ively preached  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Niagara  six  years 
later.     But  in  the  year  1790  William  Losee,  a  preacher  on 


3o8  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xii. 

trial  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States,  but  without  a  definite  appointment,  ranging  at 
large,  came  into  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Bay  Quinte  country. 
The  first  regular  class  was  organized  at  Adolphustown, 
on  Sunday,  February  20,  1791.  Losee  returned  to  the 
East,  and  in  the  minutes  of  179 1  he  appears  as  stationed 
by  the  New  York  Conference  in  the  Kingston  circuit, 
but  the  next  year  was  ordained  deacon,  and  appointed  to 
the  province  of  Upper  Canada,  accompanied  by  Darius 
Dunham,  who  had  received  elder's  orders.  They  pros- 
pered to  such  an  extent  that  by  1799  Dunham  was  a 
presiding  elder,  with  three  circuits  and  four  preachers. 
Samuel  Coate  was  at  Oswegatchie,  and  James  Coleman 
and  Michael  Coate  at  Niagara. 

Joseph  Sawyer,  of  the  New  York  Conference,  visited 
Montreal  in  1802,  and  formed  the  first  class.  The  same 
year  Peter  Vannest  and  Nathan  Bangs  toiled  on  the  Bay 
Ouinte  circuit ;  and  Samuel  Merwin,  of  the  same  conference, 
who  was  stationed   at  Montreal,  visited  Quebec  in  1803. 

A  district  comprising  seven  hundred  and  eighty-seven 
members,  known  as  "  Upper  and  Lower  Canada,"  in  1804 
was  superintended  by  Samuel  Coate, presiding  elder,  among 
whose  preachers  were  Martin  Ruter  and  Nathan  Bangs. 

Quite  early  in  the  history  of  American  Methodism  dis- 
satisfaction arose  among  the  colored  membership,  and  it 
was  part  of  a  common  tendency  among  that  people  in  all 
denominations,  growing  out  of  the  oppressive  spirit  of  the 
whites,  the  direct  consequence,  if  not  a  necessary  con- 
comitant, of  slavery.  They  appear  to  have  been  some- 
what aroused  by  Question  25  in  the  minutes  of  the 
Conference  of  1780:  "Ought  not  the  assistant  to  meet 
the  colored  people  himself,  and  appoint  as  helpers  in  his 
absence  proper  white  persons,  and  not  suffer  them  to  stay 
late  and  meet  by  themselves?     Ans.  Yes." 


MEMBERS   OF  AFRICAN  DESCENT.  309 

Most  of  the  young"  preachers  who  had  been  received  into 
the  Methodist  ministry  during  the  Revolutionary  War  were 
born  and  educated  in  slave-holding  sections.  "  The  Rev. 
Freeborn  Garrettson  could  truthfully  say  that  he  did  not 
know  it  was  wrong.  He  had  never  read  a  book  on  the 
subject,  or  been  told  that  it  was  wrong."  ^  All  the  con- 
ferences between  1776  and  1787  were  held  in  slave- 
holding  States,  and  in  1783  only  about  two  thousand  of 
the  members  resided  in  what  in  later  years  were  known  as 
the  free  States. 

In  Philadelphia,  in  1787,  the  colored  people  belonging 
to  the  Methodist  societies  met  to  consider  their  condition. 
Being  opposed,  they  withdrew  from  the  church,  began  a 
chapel,  and  Bishop  White,  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  ordained  a  colored  preacher  for  them.  In  1 793 
Richard  Allen,  a  slave  who  had  bought  his  freedom  and 
grown  rich  and  influential,  erected  on  his  own  land,  for 
people  of  his  race,  a  church.  Asbury  dedicated  this 
church,  which  was  named  Bethel,  and  the  congregation 
adopted  as  a  part  of  their  platform  the  following : 

"We  consider  every  child  of  God  a  member  of  the 
mystical  body  of  Christ ;  .  .  .  yet  in  the  political  govern- 
ment of  our  church  we  prohibit  our  white  brethren  from 
electing  or  being  elected  into  any  office  among  us,  save 
that  of  a  preacher  or  public  speaker." 

On  June  10,  1794,  they  adopted  a  declaration  of  their 
reasons  for  desiring  a  separate  place  of  worship : 

"  Whereas,  From  time  to  time,  many  inconveniences 
have  arisen  from  white  people  and  people  of  color  mixing 
together  in  public  assemblies,  more  particularly  in  places  of 
public  worship,  we  have  thought  it  necessary  to  provide 
for  ourselves  a  convenient  house  to  assemble  in  separate 
from  our  white  brethren  : 

1  Daniel  de  Vinne,  letter  to  "  Zion's  Herald,"  1844. 


3IO  THE  METIIODISrS.  [Chap.  xii. 

"  (i)  To  obviate  any  offense  our  mixing  with  our  white 
brethren  might  give  them. 

"  (2)  To  preserve  as  much  as  possible  from  the  crafty 
wiles  of  the  enemy  our  weak-minded  brethren  from  taking 
offense  at  such  partiality  as  they  might  be  led  to  think  con- 
trary to  the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  in  which  there  is  neither 
male  nor  female,  barbarian  nor  Scythian,  bond  nor  free, 
but  all  are  one  in  Christ  Jesus. 

"  (3)  That  we  might  the  more  freely  and  fully  hold  the 
faith  in  unity  of  spirit  and  the  bands  of  peace  together,  and 
build  each  other  up  in  our  most  holy  faith." 

They  adopted  a  charter,  placing  their  edifice  under  the 
control  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  but  did  not 
execute  the  deed  in  the  prescribed  form.  Asbury,  on  the 
I  Tth  of  June,  1799,  ordained  Allen  a  deacon,  he  being  the 
first  colored  minister  so  ordained  in  the  United  States  ;  and 
the  members  of  Bethel  Church  made  a  contract  to  re- 
main under  the  discipline  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church   and   the   jurisdiction   of  a   white  elder. 

The  bishops  obtained  leave,  in  the  General  Conference 
of  1800,  "  to  ordain  local  deacons  of  our  African  brethren 
in  places  where  they  have  built  a  house  or  houses  for  the 
worship  of  God,  provided  they  have  a  person  among  them 
qualified  for  the  office,  and  he  can  obtain  an  election  of  two 
thirds  of  the  male  members  of  the  society  to  which  he  be- 
longs, and  a  recommendation  from  the  minister  in  charge 
and  his  fellow-laborers  in  the  city  or  circuit."  When  this 
rule  was  formed  many  of  the  preachers  were  opposed  to 
it,  especially  those  from  Southern  States.  Some  of  these 
moved  that  it  should  not  be  printed  in  the  Form  of  Dis- 
cipline, and  a  vote  of  the  conference  was  obtained  to  enter 
it  only  on  the  journals ;  and  most  of  the  preachers  were 
not  willing  that  it  should  be  made  public. 

Slavery  being  legal  in  the  State  of  New  York,  there  were 


BEGINNINGS  OF  RACE   CHURCHES.  311 

many  slaves  in  the  metropolis,  and  a  number  belonged  to 
Wesley  Chapel.  They  were  required  to  sit  in  the  gallery. 
Sometimes  their  masters  would  not  suffer  them  to  come  to 
hear  the  Word,  and  in  the  first  letter  of  Boardman  to  Wes- 
ley, in  1769,  he  speaks  of  one  who  said,  "  I  told  my  mas- 
ter I  would  do  more  work  than  I  used  to  do  if  he  would 
let  me  come — nay,  I  would  do  everything  in  my  power  to 
be  a  good  servant."  Asbury  in  1772  speaks  of  adminis- 
tering the  Lord's  Supper  to  the  colored  people  in  New 
York,  and  says,  "  At  the  table  I  was  greatly  affected  with 
the  sight  of  the  negroes,  seeing  their  sable  faces  at  the 
table  of  the  Lord."  A  number  of  colored  members  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  wishing  to  exercise  their 
spiritual  gifts  among  themselves,  and  thereby,  as  they 
thought,  be  more  useful  to  one  another,  formed  in  i  796 
what  was  practically  a  separate  congregation. 

The  historical  introduction  to  the  Discipline  of  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  thus  summa- 
rizes the  causes  of  complaint  on  the  part  of  the  colored  peo- 
ple in  the  city  of  New  York :  "  Caste  prejudice  forbade 
their  taking  the  sacrament  until  the  white  members  were 
all  served.  This  and  the  desire  for  other  church  privileges 
denied  them  induced  them  to  organize  among  themselves, 
which  they  did  in  the  year  1796.  ...  In  the  year  1800 
they  built  a  church,  and  called  it  Zion;  .  .  .  which  church 
was,  as  regards  its  temporary  economy,  separate  from  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  from  its  first  organization." 

A  contract  was  made  between  that  body  and  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  the  first  sentence  of  which  is : 
"  This  article  of  agreement,  made  this  sixth  day  of  April, 
1 801,  between  the  Rev.  John  McClaskey  in  behalf  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 

1  "  Doctrines  and  Discipline  of.  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Church  in  America  "  (A.  M.  E.  Zion  Book  Concern,  New  York,  1892),  p.  8. 


312  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xii. 

ica  of  the  one  part,  and  the  trustees  of  tlie  A.  M.  E.  Zion 
Church  of  the  city  of  New  York  of  the  other  part,  for 
themselves  and  their  successors  in  office,"  etc' 

Under  this  contract,  having  no  ordained  ministers  of 
their  own  race,  the  church  had  the  services  of  ministers  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  about  twenty  years. 

The  first  Protestant  sermon  preached  in  the  State  of  Ala- 
bama was  delivered  by  the  eccentric  Lorenzo  Dow,  who 
wandered  into  that  wilderness  in  1803,  and  also  traveled 
there  again  during  the  following  year,  the  seed  which  he 
sowed  bringing  forth  much  fruit.  Three  years  later  Asbury 
applied  in  the  South  Carolina  Conference  at  Charleston 
for  missionaries  to  Alabama,  and  those  who  responded  re- 
ported within  two  years  eighty-six  members. 

Methodist  preachers  did  not  venture  until  1 802  within 
what  is  now  the  State  of  Indiana ;  there  were  then  but  a 
few  settlers,  and  in  the  year  1807  it  contained  but  one  cir- 
cuit, one  preacher,  and  sixty-seven  members. 

Illinois  had  but  two  hundred  and  fifteen  inhabitants  in 
the  year  1800;  but  four  years  later  Benjamin  Young, 
brother  of  Jacob,  was  sent  as  a  missionary,  and  at  the  end 
of  one  year  he  reported  sixty-seven  members. 

The  first  Methodist  preacher  in  Michigan  was  Freeman, 
a  local  preacher  who  began  in  1803,  wandering  far  into  the 
interior,  and  also  preaching  in  Detroit.  Nathan  Bangs, 
entering  from  Canada,  preached  in  that  city  in  1804,  though 
without  visible  success.  Subsequently  William  Case  crossed 
from  Canada  and  delixered  sermons;  and  a  short  time 
afterward  William  Mitchell,  a  local  Methodist  preacher, 
organized  the  first  Methodist  society  in  Detroit,  which  was 
also  the  first  in  the  State.- 

Tennessee,  where  Methodism   was  prospering,  became 

1  "One  Hundred  Years  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Zion  Churcli,"  by  Bishop  J.  W. 
Hood  (A.  M.  E.  Zion  Book  Concern). 

2  Pilcher's  "History  of  Methodism  in  Michigan." 


AN  UNTUTORED    GENIUS.  313 

the  headquarters  of  the  itinerant  preachers  who  were  ex- 
ploring the  southeastern  portions  of  the  country.  In  1805 
Asbury  dispatched  EHsha  W.  Bowman  as  a  missionary 
from  the  Western  Conference  to  introduce  Methodism 
among  the  EngHsh  settlements  of  the  Territory  of  Louisi- 
ana. He  formed  a  circuit,  which  was  attached  to  another 
styled  the  South  Mississippi,  and  together  with  it  formed 
the  Mississippi  district,  which  appears  first  in  the  minutes 
of  1806.  Few  of  the  settlers  were  Americans,  and  these 
were  generally  so  ignorant  that  Bowman  reported  that  they 
knew  little  more  about  the  need  of  salvation  than  the  In- 
dians. Some,  after  he  had  preached,  asked  him  what  he 
meant  by  "  the  fall  of  man,"  and  when  it  was  that  he  fell. 
Bowman  was  obliged  to  teach  them  to  sing,  and  in  fact 
"  to  do  everything  that  is  like  worshiping  God  "  ;  and  he 
remarks  that  if  they  came  to  hear  him  once  they  thought 
they  had  done  him  a  great  favor.  1 

James  Russell  was  admitted  to  the  South  Carolina 
Conference  in  1805.  On  account  of  ignorance  he  had 
been  refused  a  license  to  exhort,  but  the  authorities  were 
unable  to  maintain  their  attitude,  for  no  man  so  elo- 
quent had  appeared  among  them  ;  he  was  licensed  by  the 
South  Carolina  Conference  before  he  could  read,  and 
carried  his  spelling-book  with  him  around  the  circuit, 
seeking  assistance  in  its  lessons  even  from  the  children  of 
the  families  with  whom  he  lodged.  So  soon  as  he  had 
acquired  the  art  of  reading  he  advanced  in  self-culture 
with  a  rapidity  commensurate  with  his  oratorical  ability, 
and  became  noted  as  an  English  scholar  and  a  man  of 
refined  taste.  In  Sprague's  "  Annals  of  the  American 
Pulpit  "  interesting  references  are  made  to  him  by  Bishop 
Wightman,  who  represents  him  as  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Southern   Methodist  Church,  famous  in  three  States 

1  Stevens's  "History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  vol.  iv.,  pp. 
399-402. 


314  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xii. 

as  among  the  most  eloquent  and  powerful  preachers  of 
his  time. 

Bishop  Whatcoat  died  in  Dover,  Del.,  on  the  5th  of 
July,  1806,  at  the  residence  of  Richard  Bassett,  Asbury 
being  then  en  route  to  visit  his  colleague,  and  within  one 
hundred  and  thirty  miles  of  the  place.  Asbury  speaks 
of  him  as  "  that  father  in  Israel,  my  faithful  friend  for  forty 
years,  a  man  of  solid  parts,  a  self-denying  man  of  God, 
who  had  been  sixteen  years  in  the  ministry  in  England, 
Wales,  and  Ireland,  and  twenty-two  in  America;  twelve 
as  presiding  elder,  during  four  of  which  years  he  was 
stationed  in  cities  or  traveling  with  me ;  and  six  years  in 
the  superintendency."  "A  man,"  said  he,  "so  uniformly 
good  I  have  not  known  in  Europe  or  America." 

Lee  notes  certain  peculiarities  not  specified  by  Bishop 
Asbury  :  "  He  seldom  complained  of  any  difficulties  with 
which  he  met;  he  was  especially  clear  and  plain  in  his  ex- 
planations of  the  Scriptures,  with  which  he  was  particularly 
acquainted."  He  was  "  among  the  best  of  men  for  meekness 
and  patience,  humiUty  and  sobriety  ;  for  watchfulness  over 
his  words,  and  for  a  smooth  and  even  temper ;  and,  withal, 
for  gifts  and  animation  in  preaching,  especially  in  the  last 
part  of  his  life.  ...  In  his  death  the  preachers  have 
lost  a  pattern  of  piety,  and  the  people  have  lost  an  able 
teacher." 

Methodism  was  introduced  into  the  new  Territory  of 
Missouri,  considered  a  part  of  Louisiana,  in  1807.  Most 
of  the  early  settlers  were  Roman  Catholics ;  but  the  tide 
of  migration  was  strongly  setting  in  that  direction,  and 
already  there  were  sixteen  thousand  inhabitants,  one 
fifth  of  whom  were  slaves.  The  Rev.  John  Travis,  who 
outlined  and  traversed  the  new  circuit,  owing  to  the  scat- 
tered condition  of  the  settlers,  the  badness  of  the  roads, 
the  swampy  character  of  the  lands  near  the  Mississippi, 


FRUITS    OF    THE    YEAR.  315 

met  with  many  difficulties,  but  at  the  end  of  the  year  re- 
ported fifty-six  members. 

Throughout  this  year  general  revivals  took  place  in  Mary- 
land, Delaware,  Virginia,  and  Georgia,  and  one  of  special 
interest  occurred  in  the  city  pf  New  York.  The  record 
of  the  year  showed  an  increase  of  14,020  members  and 
64  preachers,  giving  a  total  of  144,590  members  and  516 
preachers.  There  was  an  increase  of  2606  members  of 
African  descent,  making  nearly  30,000,  notwithstanding  dis- 
affection among  that  people  in  certain  sections. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

INTRODUCTION    OF    REPRESENTATIVE    GOVERNMENT. 

When  the  General  Conference  of  1808  assembled  in 
Baltimore  on  the  first  day  of  May  Asbury  was  the  only 
bishop  present,  Whatcoat  having  died,  and  Coke  being 
in  Europe.  There  were  thirty-two  members  from  the 
Philadelphia  Conference,  among  them  Thomas  Ware  and 
Henry  Boehm  (who  survived  until  the  present  generation, 
becoming  by  his  writings  and  by  his  public  and  private 
verbal  communications  a  valuable  contributor  to  the  history 
of  American  Methodism) ;  thirty-one  from  the  Baltimore, 
among  them  Stephen  G.  Roszel,  Enoch  George,  Asa  Shinn, 
and  Robert  R.  Roberts  ;  nineteen  from  the  New  York,  in- 
cluding three  whose  names  appear  frequently  in  the  history 
of  Methodism — Garrettson,  Cooper,  and  Bangs ;  eighteen 
from  the  Virginia,  the  most  widely  known  being  Philip 
Bruce  and  Jesse  Lee ;  eleven  from  the  South  Carolina, 
among  whom  were  William  Phcebus,  Lewis  Myers,  and 
John  Gamewell ;  eleven  from  the  Western,  led  by  William 
McKendree ;  and  seven  from  the  New  England,  all  of 
whom  were  already  influential,  and  two,  Joshua  Soule  and 
Elijah  Hedding,  conspicuous. 

The  relations  of  Coke  to  American  Methodism,  which, 
although  on  the  whole  of  great  service,  had  always  been 
an  occasion  of  discussion,  had  now  become  so  delicate  that 
their  final  settlement  was  imperatively  demanded. 

316 


CONTROVERSY  CONCERNING    COKE.  317 

After  his  return  to  Europe  he  married,  but  sent  over 
a  proposal  to  take  up  his  permanent  residence  in  America, 
on  condition  that  the  continent  should  be  divided  as  nearly 
equally  as  possible  between  him  and  Asbury  as  superin- 
tending bishops.  This  proposition  was  not  acceptable.  On 
the  1 6th  of  November  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  General 
Conference,  in  which  he  said  that  if  they  declared  that  his 
residence  with  them  would  assist  to  preserve  their  union, 
and  if  they  agreed  that  he  should  have  a  full  right  in  the 
General  and  Annual  Conferences  to  give  his  judgment  on 
the  making  of  laws,  stationing  of  preachers,  sending  out 
of  missionaries,  and  everything  else  which  as  a  bishop  or 
superintendent  belonged  to  his  ofifice,  he  would  settle  his 
affairs  and  come  to  the  United  States  for  life.  And  he 
added,  "  You  may  observe,  I  do  not  desire  any  decisive 
power.      I   want  no  new  condition." 

This  business  was  settled  by  a  resolution  of  thanks  to 
Coke,  one  consenting  that  he  might  continue  in  Europe 
"  until  called  to  the  United  States  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence, or  by  all  the  American  conferences  respectively"; 
and  another  that  his  name  be  retained  in  the  minutes  after 
the  names  of  the  bishops,  with  a  footnote  stating  that, 
"  at  the  request  of  the  British  Conference  and  by  consent 
of  this  General  Conference,  he  resides  in  Europe,  but  is 
not  to  exercise  the  office  of  superintendent  among  us  until 
he  be  recalled  as  above  stated." 

Important  as  was  the  settlement  of  this  question,  another 
connected  with  Coke  created  much  more  excitement.  A 
remarkable  disclosure  had  been  made  by  the  publication  of 
a  letter  sent  by  Coke  to  Bishop  White,  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  suggesting  the  union  of  the  Methodists 
with  that  body.  It  was  written  April  24,  1791.  White 
replied,  and  certain  interviews  were  held.  The  bishop 
kept  the  correspondence  confidential  until  1804,  when  he 


3i8  THE  METHODISTS.  [CiiAr.  xiii. 

revealed  it  to  Simon  Wilmer,  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  and  John  McClaskey,  a  member  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
At  a  later  period  White  gave  a  copy  of  Coke's  letter  to 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Kemp,  of  Maryland,  and  in  a  pending  diocesan 
controversy  it  was  published. 

Prejudice  against  Coke  was  increased  by  the  charge  that 
he  initiated  this  correspondence  without  consulting  Asbury. 
Much  correspondence  had  been  had  between  Coke  and 
American  Methodists  in  the  interval  between  the  publication 
of  his  negotiations  witli  White  and  the  assembling  of  this 
General  Conference.  To  justify  himself  he  addressed  a  long 
letter  to  the  conference.  In  it  he  explains  that  at  the  time 
he  wrote  there  were  no  regular  General  Conferences,  and 
claims  that  he  proposed  the  establishment  of  such  bodies ; 
that  in  the  latter  end  of  i  792  he  "  proposed  and  obtained 
that  great  blessing  to  the  American  connection,  perma- 
nency for  General  Conferences,  to  be  held  at  stated  times  "  ; 
that  at  the  time  he  wrote  his  letter  to  White  he  feared  lest 
the  connection  would  lack  stability  ;  that  he  difTered  from 
Bishop  Asbury  in  the  matter  of  the  Council,  which  had 
come  to  so  disastrous  an  end  ;  and  that  lie  did  believe  that 
"  under  God  the  connection  would  be  more  likely  to  be 
saved  from  convulsions  by  a  union  with  the  old  Episcopal 
Church  than  in  any  other  way — not  by  a  dereliction  of 
ordination,  sacraments,  and  the  Methodist  discipline,  but 
by  a  junction  on  proper  terms."  He  maintains  that  he 
had  provided  "  in  the  fullest  manner,  in  the  indispensably 
necessary  conditions  "  which  he  laid  down,  "  for  the  security 
and  independence  of  Methodist  discipline  and  places  of  wor- 
ship." He  states  that  he  did  not  consult  Asbury  before  he 
took  these  steps  because  he  was  in  the  South  and  inacces- 
sible ;  that  he  did  not  intend  to  do  more  than  begin  a 
negotiation  ;  and  that  on  the  i6th  of  the  following  May  he 


COKE  AND  BISHOP    WHITE.  319 

did  lay  the  matter  before  Asbury  at  New  Castle,  Del., 
from  which  place  he  embarked  for  England,  and  that  As- 
bury, "  with  that  caution  which  peculiarly  characterizes 
him,  gave  no  decisive  opinion  on  the  subject." 

In  some  of  the'  letters  which  had  been  sent  to  Coke  an 
answer  had  been  demanded  to  a  very  serious  question : 
"  If  you  did  not  think  that  the  episcopal  ordination  of 
Mr.  Asbury  was  valid,  why  did  you  ordain  him  ?  Was  there 
not  duplicity  in  this  business?  "      To  this  he  answered: 

"  (i)  I  never,  since  I  could  reason  on  those  things,  con- 
sidered the  doctrine  of  tJie  uninterrupted  apostolic  succession 
of  bishops  as  at  all  valid  or  true. 

"  (2)  I  anj  of  our  late  venerable  father  Mr.  Wesley's 
opinion  that  the  order  of  bishops  and  presbyters  is  one 
and  the  same. 

"  (3)  I  believe  that  the  episcopal  form  of  church  gov- 
ernment is  the  best  in  the  world  when  the  episcopal  power 
is  under  due  regulations  and  responsibility. 

"  (4)  I  believe  that  it  is  well  to  follow  the  example  of 
the  primitive  church,  as  exemplified  in  the  Word  of  God, 
by  setting  apart  persons  for  great  ministerial  purposes  by 
the  imposition  of  hands,  but  especially  those  who  are  ap- 
pointed for  offices  of  the  first  rank  in  the  church. 

"  From  all  I  have  advanced,  you  may  easily  perceive, 
my  dear  brethren,  that  I  do  not  consider  the  imposition  of 
hands,  on  the  one  hand,  as  essentially  necessary  for  any 
office  in  the  church  ;  nor  do  I,  on  the  other  hand,  think 
that  the  repetition  of  the  imposition  of  hands  for  the  same 
office,  when  important  circumstances  require  it,  is  at  all 
improper. 

"  If  it  be  granted  that  my  plan  of  union  with  the  old 
Episcopal  Church  was  desirable  {which  now,  I  think,  was 
not  so,  though  I  most  sincerely  believed  it  to  be  so  at  that 
time),  then  if  the  plan  could  not  have  been  accomplished 


320  THE  MKTHOJ)ISTS.  [CnAi-.  xiii. 

without  a  repetition  of  the  imposition  of  hands  for  the 
same  office,  I  did  believe,  and  do  now  believe,  and  have  no 
doubt,  that  the  repetition  of  the  imposition  of  hands  would 
have  been  perfectly  justifiable  for  the  enlargement  of  the 
field  of  action,  etc.,  and  would  not  by  any  means  have  in- 
validated the  former  consecration  or  imposition  of  hands. 
Therefore  I  have  no  doubt  but  my  consecration  of  Bishop 
Asbury  was  perfectly  valid,  and  would  have  been  so  even 
if  he  had  been  reconsecrated.  I  never  did  apply  to  the 
General  Convention  or  any  other  convention  for  reconse- 
cration.  I  never  intended  that  either  Bishop  Asbury  or 
myself  should  give  up  our  episcopal  office  if  the  junction 
were  to  take  place  ;  but  I  should  have  had  no  jcruple  then, 
nor  should  I  now,  if  the  junction  iverc  desirable,  to  have 
submitted  to,  or  to  submit  to,  a  reimposition  of  hands  in 
order  to  accomplish  a  great  object ;  but  I  do  say  again,  I 
do  not  now  believe  such  a  junction  desirable."^ 

As  the  letter  to  White  was  accessible,  and  several  mem- 
bers of  the  General  Conference  were  well  acquainted  with 
the  latter,  the  subject  was  thoroughly  investigated.  At 
the  conclusion  of  the  discussion  the  conference  addressed 
a  long  letter  to  Coke,  the  substance  and  spirit  of  which  are 
in  the  following  extract : 

"  Your  two  letters  [the  first  related  to  his  official  rela- 
tion to  the  body]  were  respectfully  received,  and  had  a 
salutary  effect  upon  our  minds.  The  reasons  which  you 
have  assigned  for  some  former  transactions,  and  the  ingenu- 
ous candor  which  you  have  manifested  in  frankly  acknowl- 
edging and  declaring  the  motives  and  inducements  that 
led  you  to  those  measures,  together  with  your  affectionate 
acknowledgment  that  in  certain  cases  you  were  mistaken 
as  to  your  views  of  some  of  the  points  in  question  ;  as  like- 
wise your  manifest  friendship  and  good  will  to  this  con- 
nection and  your  American  brethren,  and  your  evident 

1  Bangs's  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  vol.  ii.,  pp. 

2IO,  211. 


RECONCILIATION  OF  COKE  AND  THE  CONFERENCE.   32  I 

solicitude  to  retain  a  place  and  standing  among  us — taking 
these  circumstances  collectively,  they  had  a  great  influence 
upon  some  of  our  minds  in  removing  certain  suspicious 
fears  which  had  been  imbibed  rather  unfavorable  to  your 
standing  among  us. 

"  You  may  be  assured  that  we  feel  an  affectionate  regard 
for  you,  that  we  gratefully  remember  your  repeated  labors 
of  love  toward  us,  and  that  we  sensibly  feel  our  obligations 
for  the  services  you  have  rendered  us.  We  hope  that  no 
circumstance  will  ever  alienate  our  Christian  affection  from 
you,  or  yours  from  us.  We  wish  to  maintain  and  to  cul- 
tivate a  good  understanding  and  brotherly  unity  with  you, 
and  with  all  our  European  brethren.  In  full  conference, 
of  near  one  hundred  and  thirty  members,  we  entered  into 
a  very  long  conversation,  and  very  serious  and  solemn  de- 
bate, upon  sundry  resolutions  which  were  laid  before  us 
relative  to  your  case." 

One  of  the  most  suggestive  situations  in  ecclesiastical 
history  grew  out  of  this  correspondence.  Coke  had  men- 
tioned twoi  difficulties,  and  in  White's  reply  he  said,  "  I 
can  say  of  the  one  and  the  other  that  I  do  not  think 
them  insuperable,  provided  there  be  a  conciliatory  disposi- 
tion on  both  sides."  And,  what  was  still  more  significant 
as  indicating  Bishop  White's  spirit  in  this  situation,  "  It 
is  rather  to  be  expected  that  distinct  churches,  agreeing 
in  fundamentals,  should  make  mutual  sacrifices  for  a 
union,  than  that  any  church  should  divide  into  two  bodies 
without  a  difference  being  even  alleged  to  exist  in  any 
leading  point.  For  the  preventing  of  this  the  measures 
which  you  propose  cannot  fail  of  success  unless  there  be 
on  one  side,  or  on  both,  a  most  lamentable  deficiency  of 
Christian  temper." 

In  the  General  Convention  of  1 792  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  propositions  for  union  passed  the  House 


322  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xiii. 

of  Bishops,  consisting  of  four  persons — Seabury,  White, 
Provoost,  and  Madison — but  were  thrown  out  in  the 
House  of  Clerical  and  Lay  Deputies.^ 

Concerning  the  United  States,  it  is  an  established  fact 
that  such  was  the  spirit  of  the  bishops  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  1791  that  a  union  would  have  been 
easy ;  and  subsequently  several  of  the  members  of  the 
House  of  Clerical  and  Lay  Deputies  which  threw  out  the 
proposal  from  the  bishops  stated  had  they  fully  under- 
stood the  nature  of  the  proposition  it  would  have  been 
approved. 

Had  such  a  union  been  formed  it  is  certain  that  neither 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  nor  American  Methodism 
would  have  been  what  it  now  is,  and  it  is  possible  that 
something  better  than  either   might   exist. 

Nine  years  before  the  assembling  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  1808,  Coke  sought  to  effect  a  virtual  union  between 
English  Wesleyans  and  the  Church  of  England,  and  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  informing  him 
that  he  wished  to  promote  the  "  securing  of  the  great  body 
of  Methodists  in  connection  with  the  late  Rev.  John  Wesley 
to  the  Church  of  England."  He  stated  that  they  had  nearly 
ninety  thousand  members,  and  six  times  as  many  regu- 
lar hearers ;  that  they  were  friends  of  the  liturgy  of  the 
Church  of  England  and  its  episcopacy ;  but  that  many  of 
them  had  a  deep  prejudice  against  receiving  the  Lord's 
Supper  from  ministers  who  frequented  card-tables,  balls, 
horse-races,  theaters,  and  other  places  of  fashionable  amuse- 
ment ;  that  he  had  tried  in  vain  to  show  them  that  the 
validity  of  the  ordinance  does  not  depend  upon  the  piety, 
or  even  the  morality,  of  the  ministers.  He  recounted  the 
different  controversies  among  the  Wesleyans,  and  expressed 

1  Bishop  White's  "  Memoirs,"  pp.  194-199.     See    footnote   on  "  Evolu- 
tions of  Episcopacy  and  Organic  Methodism,"  by  T.  B.  Neely,  p.  372. 


COKE  AND    THE   BISHOP   OF  LONDON.  323 

his  fear  that  they  were  deviating  to  such  an  extent  from 
the  Estabhshment  that  in  time  it  would  bring  about  a  uni- 
versal separation. 

His  scheme  was  to  have  a  given  number  of  the  leading 
preachers,  who  should  be  selected  for  the  purpose  by 
the  conference,  ordained  by  the  Church  of  England, 
and  permitted  to  travel  through  the  connection,  adminis- 
tering the  sacraments  to  the  societies.  He  declared  his 
conviction  that  the  numerous  societies  in  America  would 
have  been  a  regular  Presbyterian  Church  had  not  Wesley 
and  himself  taken  the  steps  which  they  judged  it  necessary 
to  adopt.  Avowing  his  love  for  the  English  church,  and 
asserting  that  infidelity  was  moving  with  such  gigantic 
strides  that  there  ought  to  be  a  union  of  all  who  could 
conscientiously  unite,  he  made  known  to  the  bishop  that 
men  of  long  standing  and  great  influence  in  the  connec- 
tion approved  the  plan,  but  that  these  were  mostly  far  ad- 
vanced in  years,  informing  him  also  that  he  had  laid  the 
whole  plan  before  the  attorney-general,  who  was  a  fellow- 
student  of  his  at  Oxford,  and  that  the  latter  "  greatly  ap- 
proved it." 

Coke  received  from  the  Bishop  of  London  a  courteous 
acknowledgment  of  his  communication,  recognizing  the 
importance  of  the  subject,  and  stating :  "  The  object  you 
have  in  view  is  certainly  very  desirable ;  but  how  far  the 
means  you  have  proposed  for  attaining  it  are  practicable  I 
cannot  at  present  pretend  to  judge."  The  bishop  promised 
to  converse  upon  the  subject  with  the  Archbishops  of  York 
and  Canterbury.  The  latter  wrote  to  Coke  two  weeks 
later,  declining  to  ordain  on  the  recommendation  of  the 
conference,  and  adds  that  he  had  conversed  with  a  num- 
ber of  bishops,  and  all  agreed  with  him  that  it  would  be 
highly  improper,  and  appeals  to  Coke  to  "  endeavor  to 
bring  the  people  to  a  better  mind." 


324  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xui. 

Coke's  ordination  by  Wesley  had  not  destroyed  his  stand- 
ing as  a  presbyter  in  the  Church  of  England.  Some 
years  after  this,  when  he  had  set  his  heart  upon  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  mission  in  India,  being  informed  that  the 
government  contemplated  establishing  a  bishopric  there, 
and  finding  the  Wesleyans  not  as  enthusiastic  in  the 
project  as  himself,  he  wrote  to  Lord  Liverpool,  offer- 
ing himself  as  a  candidate,  promising  if  appointed  "  to 
return  most  fully  into  the  bosom  of  the  Established 
Church." 

In  estimating  these  proceedings  it  should  be  remembered 
that  he  lived  in  a  period  of  bitter  controversy  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic,  and  at  the  time  of  the  secession 
of  O'Kelly  had  reason  for  doubting  the  stability  of 
American  Methodism.  After  Wesley's  death  the  fate  of 
British  Methodism  was  for  a  considerable  time  uncertain. 
It  is  probable  that  Coke  hoped  to  succeed  Wesley  in  Eng- 
land ;  but  the  English  Conference  would  not  brook  the  idea 
of  the  transmission  of  Wesley's  unlimited  power,  and  the 
Irish  Conference,  over  which  Coke  had  always  presided  by 
Wesley's  appointment,  declined  to  allow  him  the  presiden- 
tial chair.  But  the  English  Conference  showed  its  esteem 
for  him  by  making  him  its  secretary,  an  office  which  he 
filled  for  a  number  of  years. 

He  continued  the  most  powerful  factor  in  British  foreign 
mission  work,  while  he  was  technically  bishop  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  ;  and  to  him  belongs  more  than  to 
any  other  the  honor  of  initiating  the  home  mission  work 
of  British  Methodism. 

A  discriminating  biographer,  William  Morley  Punshon, 
believes  that  his  life  proved  that  he  was  "  covetous  of  the 
responsibility,  the  unremitting  toil,  and  the  untrammeled 
opportunities  of  doing  good  which  the  bishopric  would 
bring   him,  rather  than  of  the  lawn,  the  miter,  and  the 


McKENDKEE   ELECTED   BISHOP.  325 

palace — those  post-apostolic  appendages  to  the  office 
which  tend  only  to  weight  the  wings  of  the  '  angels  '  who 
have  '  the  everlasting  gospel  to  preach  '  in  their  flight 
through  '  the  midst  of  heaven  '  "  ;  but  justly  observes 
that  "  he  would  have  been  a  greater  statesman  if  he 
had  had  fewer  devices,  and  had  cogitated  longer  on 
those  which  his  brain  conceived.  He  damaged  his  own 
reputation,  and  gave  occasion  for  suspicion  that  he  was 
actuated  by  meaner  motives  than  the  noble  ones  from 
which  he  habitually  acted  by  hasty  and  injudicious  pro- 
posals." 

The  conference  having  decided  that  the  superintend- 
ency  needed  strengthening,  it  was  moved  by  Roszel  that 
, "  one  person  be  elected  and  ordained  as  joint  superintend- 
ent or  bishop  with  Asbury  "  ;  also  by  Ostrander,  seconded 
by  Soule,  that  "  two  be  elected  and  ordained  "  ;  and  by 
McClaskey,  seconded  by  Cooper,  that  "  seven  be  added  to 
the  superintendency."  The  next  morning  leave  to  with- 
draw the  motion  for  seven  additional  bishops  was  refused. 
It  was  then  put  to  vote  and  lost ;  the  motion  for  two  ad- 
ditional bishops  met  the  same  fate.  The  original  motion 
was  then  adopted,  whereupon  the  conference  proceeded 
to  the  election  with  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  mem- 
bers present,  of  whom  ninety-five  voted  for  William 
McKendree,  the  other  votes  being  divided  between  Cooper 
and  Lee. 

McKendree  was  famous  throughout  the  West  at  this 
time.  He  was  the  son  of  a  Virginia  planter ;  at  the  age 
of  twenty  he  entered  the  army  of  the  Revolution,  joined 
a  company  of  volunteers,  and  became  an  adjutant,  "  dis- 
playing great  energy  in  procuring  supplies  to  sustain  the 
allied  armies  of  Washington  and  Count  Rochambeau,  and 
was  at  the  battle  of  Yorktown,  when  Cornwallis  was  cap- 
tured." 


326  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xiii. 

He  was  baptized  and  trained  in  the  old  colonial  church 
of  Virginia,  and  lived  blamelessly,  but  knew  nothing  of 
experimental  religion.  When  the  Methodists  appeared 
in  his  neighborhood  he  was  awakened,  and  joined  the 
Society,  but  remained  a  member  several  years  without 
obtaining  the  experience  professed  by  others.  Conscious 
of  the  inconsistency,  he  says,  "  I  then  peacefully  retired 
from  the  Society,  while  my  conduct  continued  to  secure 
their  friendship."  He  remained  in  this  state  until  thirty 
years  of  age,  when,  under  the  preaching  of  the  Rev.  John 
Easter,  he  was  fully  awakened,  and  tortured  with  fears, 
which  gave  place  to  confidence  and  joy ;  when  he  became 
much  concerned  for  the  salvation  of  those  who  knew 
nothing  of  the  gospel  hope,  although  he  never  imagined 
that  he  would  preach  until  his  father  inquired  if  the  Lord 
had  not  called  him  thereto.  He  replied,  "  I  cannot  tell,  for 
I  do  not  know  what  being  called  to  preach  the  gospel  im- 
plies." Seized  with  a  severe  illness,  he  was  visited  by  the 
minister  under  whose  preaching  he  had  been  aroused,  who 
prayed  with  singular  fervor  for  his  recovery,  and  that  he 
might  "be  thrust  into  the  ministry."  After  hesitation  he 
applied  for  adm'ssion,  and  was  received;  in  1790  Asbury 
ordained  him  deacon,  and  the  next  year  elder.  Manifesting 
vigor,  zeal,  and  sense,  he  was  appointed  to  large  circuits, 
one  extending  from  Chesapeake  Bay  over  the  Blue  Ridge 
and  Alleghany  Mountains,  comprehending  also  a  vast 
region  of  territory  on  the  Western  waters.  He  accompanied 
Asbury  and  Whatcoat  to  the  Western  Conference  in  1800, 
and  was  appointed  to  a  district  embracing  the  present 
States  of  Ohio  and  Kentucky,  and  large  sections  of  west- 
ern Virginia,  Illinois,  Tennessee,  and  Mississippi,  where 
he  spent  eight  years,  and  participated  in  what  has  ever 
since  been  called  "  the  great  revival  in  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee." 


SKETEH  OF  McKENDREE.  327 

An  issue  arose  as  to  the  exclusive  employment  as  min- 
isters of  men  who  had  received  a  "  liberal  education."  On 
this  the  Presbyterians  divided,  and  a  new  denomination 
called  "  Cumberland  "  Presbyterians  originated  in  Cumber- 
land County,  Tennessee.  About  the  same  time  the  Shakers 
appeared,  and  led  off  some  of  the  Presbyterian  ministers 
into  their  delusions.  "  Stoneites,"  "  New  Lights,"  and  other 
half-insane  sects  were  developed.  Summers  and  Paine 
give  interesting  details,  showing  that  McKendree  was  the 
man  for  the  occasion.  He  guided  the  Methodists  through 
their  embarrassments  without  entangling  alliances  and  with 
comparatively  little  defection. 

Coke  was  in  Europe,  and  neither  Asbury  nor  What- 
coat  could  reach  the  Western  Conference  for  the  session 
of  1804.  McKendree  presided,  and  exhibited  such  abiUty 
that  after  the  death  of  Bishop  Whatcoat  his  name  was 
frequently  mentioned  for  the  superintendency.  Tradition, 
however,  says  that  while  his  abilities,  particularly  as  ex- 
hibited in  the  West,  prepared  the  way,  the  exciting  cause 
of  his  election  to  the  episcopacy  was  a  discourse  which  he 
delivered  on  the  Sunday  before  the  conference  opened. 
His  text  was:  "For  the  hurt  of  the  daughter  of  my 
people  am  I  hurt;  I  am  black;  astonishment  hath  taken 
hold  on  me.  Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead  ?  is  there  no 
physician  there  ?  why  then  is  not  the  health  of  the 
daughter  of  my  people  recovered?"  (Jer.  viii.  21,  22). 
The  introduction  seemed  tame,  his  sentences  disjointed, 
and  his  elocution  defective.  He  explained  the  condition 
of  the  human  family,  and  proceeded  to  analyze  the  feelings 
which  such  a  state  of  things  awakened  in  the  souls  of  God's 
faithful  ambassadors.  "  But  when  he  came  to  speak  of  the 
blessed  effects  upon  the  heart  of  the  balm  which  God  had 
prepared  for  the  healing  of  the  nations,  he  carried  the 
whole  congregation  away  with  him."^     At  this  time  he 


328  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xiii. 

was  fifty-one  years  of  age,  was  the  first  native  American 
elected  to  the  office  of  bishop,  and  was  ordained  by  As- 
bury,  assisted  by  Garrettson,  Bruce,  Lee,  and  Ware. 

Next  to  the  organization  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  i  784,  the  introduction  of  representative  govern- 
ment was  the  most  vital  change  in  American  Methodism, 
and  remains  unparalleled  in  meaning  and  influence. 

Jesse  Lee  placed  in  the  hands  of  Asbury  on  the  7th  of 
July,  I  791,  "a  paper  proposing  the  election  of  not  less  than 
two  nor  more  than  four  preachers  from  each  conference, 
to  form  the  General  Conference  in  Baltimore  in  December, 
1792,  to  be  continued  annually."^ 

In  the  General  Conference  of  1 800  James  Tolleson  moved 
that  "  Whereas,  Much  time  has  been  lost,  and  will  always 
be  lost,  in  the  event  of  a  General  Conference  being  con- 
tinued;  and  Whereas,  The  circuits  are  left  without 
preachers  for  one,  two,  or  three  months,  and  other  great 
inconveniences  attend  so  many  of  the  preachers  leaving 
their  work,  and  no  real  advantage  arises  therefrom; 
Resolved,  That  instead  of  a  General  Conference  we  sub- 
stitute a  delegated  one." 

Tolleson,  who  possessed  high  qualities,  died  of  yellow 
fever  a  few  weeks  after  the  conference  adjourned ;  his 
memoir  in  the  minutes  for  1801  records  that  as  a  travel- 
ing preacher  he  labored  between  eight  and  nine  years, 
"  during  which  time  he  filled  several  important  stations 
with  dignity  and  diligence.  He  possessed  promising 
abilities  both  in  gifts  and  understanding;  but,  what  is  of 
infinitely  more  importance,  he  was  a  man  of  piety  and 
uniform  in  his  religious  deportment." 

Although  Tolleson's  admirably  worded  resolution  was 
promptly  negatived,  it  soon  began  to  be  generally  felt  that 
to  deposit  all  power  in  the  entire  traveling  ministry  was 

1  "  Asbury's  Journal,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  128. 


PROPOSALS  FOR  A   DELEGATED    CONFERENCE.     329 

not  wise,  neither  affording  a  sufficient  guaranty  of  the 
unity  of  the  church  nor  of  the  security  of  its  government 
and  doctrine.  The  conferences  nearest  to  the  place  of 
meeting  always  had  a  much  larger  representation  than 
those  at  a  greater  distance,  while  the  cost  to  the  latter  in 
time,  money,  and  hardship  was  almost  unendurable. 

The  health  of  Whatcoat  having  become  impaired,  a  paper 
was  submitted  by  Asbury  to  the  Annual  Conferences  in 
1806,  beginning  with  the  Baltimore,  in  favor  of  calling  a 
General  Conference  for  the  purpose  of  strengthening  the 
episcopacy.  It  was  proposed  that  it  should  meet  in  the 
city  of  Baltimore,  May,  1807,  consist  of  seven  delegates 
from  each  Annual  Conference,  and  have  authority  to  elect 
one  bishop  or  more,  and  also  to  provide  for  a  future  dele- 
gated General  Conference,  whose  powers  should  be  defined 
and  limited  by  "constitutional  restrictions."^ 

This  was  passed  unanimously  by  the  New  York  Con- 
ference, attested  and  signed  by  Garrettson,  Cooper,  and 
Samuel  Coate,  and  recommended  to  the  other  six  confer- 
ences. The  New  England  concurred  by  a  vote  of  twenty- 
-eight  to  fifteen,  the  Western  unanimously,  and  the  South 
Carolina  with  her  two  negative  votes.  These  conferences 
chose  delegates. 

Lee  says  -  that  "  the  Virginia  Conference  at  New-Berne, 
in  February,  1807,  refused  to  take  it  under  consideration, 
and  rejected  it  as  being  pointedly  in  opposition  to  all  the 
rules  of  the  church.  The  bishop  labored  hard  to  carry  the 
point,  but  he  labored  in  vain ;  and  the  whole  business  of 
that  dangerous  plan  was  overset  by  the  Virginia  Confer- 
ence. The  inventors  and  defenders  of  that  project  might 
have  meant  well;  but  they  certainly  erred  in  judgment." 

On  the  ninth  day  of  the  General  Conference  of  1808  a 

1  Bangs,  vol.  ii.,  p.  177. 

2  "  History  of  the  Metliodists,"  p.  345. 


330  THE  METJJODISTS.  [CiiAi'.  xiii. 

memorial  was  presented  from  the  New  York  Conference, 
showing  that  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  com- 
posed of  about  five  hundred  traveling  and  two  thousand 
local  preachers,  ministering  to  about  one  hundred  and  forty 
thousand  members,  "  implying  congregations  who  are 
directly  or  remotely  under  the  pastoral  oversight  and  min- 
isterial charge  amounting  in  all  probability  to  more  than 
one  million  of  souls."  This  was  preparatory  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  inconvenience,  expense,  and  loss  of 
time  that  necessarily  resulted  from  the  existing  regulations 
relative  to  the  General  Conference.  The  New  York  Con- 
ference declared  its  thorough  conviction  that  "a  represent- 
ative or  delegated  General  Conference,  composed  of  a 
specific  number  on  principles  of  equal  representation  from 
the  several  Annual  Conferences,  would  be  much  more 
conduci\-e  to  the  prosperity  and  general  unity  of  the  whole 
body  than  the  present  indefinite  and  anomalous  body  of 
ministers  called  together  unequally  from  the  various  con- 
ferences, to  the  great  inconvenience  of  the  ministry  and 
injury  of  the  work  of  God." 

It  had  been  adopted  by  the  New  York  Conference 
without  a  dissenting  vote.  The  New  England  had  unan- 
imously voted  to  concur,  as  had  the  Western,  and  the 
South  Carolina  with  the  exception  of  five  members. 

Asbury  called  for  ',*  the  mind  of  the  conference,"  as  to 
whether  any  further  regulation  in  the  order  of  the  General 
Conference  was  necessary.  The  question  was  determined 
in  the  affirmative. 

A  committee  was  formed,  by  the  election  of  two  from 
each  conference,  to  draw  up  such  regulations  as  they 
might  consider  best,  and  report  to  the  conference.  It  was 
called  the  "  Committee  Relative  to  Regulating  and  Per- 
petuating the  General  Conference." 

The  members  elected  were :  from  the  New  York  Con- 


PLAN  FOR  A    REPRESENTATIVE  BODY.  33  I 

ference,  Ezekiel  Cooper  and  John  Wilson ;  from  the  New 
England,  George  Pickenng  and  Joshua  Soule  ;  from  the 
Western,  William  McKendree  and  William  Burke ;  from 
the  South  Carolina,  Joshua  Randall  and  William  Phoebus ; 
from  the  Virginia,  Philip  Bruce  and  Jesse  Lee ;  from  the 
Baltimore,  Stephen  G.  Roszel  and  Nelson  Reed  ;  and  from 
the  Philadelphia,  John  McClaskey  and  Thomas  Ware. 

They  appointed  a  subcommittee,  consisting  of  Cooper, 
Soule,  and  Bruce,  to  draft  a  report,  to  be  submitted  for 
approval  or  modification.  It  was  agreed  that  each  should 
prepare  a  paper  stating  his  view  of  the  restrictions  neces- 
sary, to  be  presented  at  a  subsequent  meeting.  Cooper 
and  Soule  complied,  but  Bruce  had  committed  nothing  to 
writing.  On  comparing  the  two  papers,  Bruce  fell  in  with 
the  main  points  of  the  one  presented  by  Soule,  to  which 
Cooper  finally  agreed. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  whole  committee,  which  had  both 
plans  before  them,  after  some  slight  changes  suggested  by 
the  others  that  of  Soule  was  adopted.^ 

Their  report,  which  was  presented  May  i6th,  elicited 
much  debate,  which  was  suspended  for  the  consideration 
of  the  following  motion  made  by  Cooper  "  as  preparatory 
to  the  minds  of  the  brethren  to  determine  on  the  subject 
of  the  said  committee's  report  "  : 

"  Resolved,  That  in  the  fifth  section  of  the  Discipline, 
after  the  question,  '  By  whom  shall  the  presiding  elders 
be  chosen?  '  the  answer  shall  be  :  'Ans.  Each  Annual  Con- 
ference respectively,  without  debate,  shall  annually  choose 
by  ballot  its  own  presiding  elders.'  " 

Debate  on  this   resolution   consumed   part  of  Monday 
afternoon  and  the  greater  part  of  Tuesday  and  Wednesday. 
Three  times  it  was  moved  to  close,  once  to  postpone  the 
subject  indefinitely,  and  once  until  August  15th. 
1  Charles  Elliot's  "  Life  of  Bishop  Roberts." 


332  'JJJI^  MKTJWDJSTS.  [Chai'.  xiii. 

At  last  a  motion  to  close  was  carried.  On  motion  of 
Garrettson  it  was  ordered  that  the  vote  be  taken  by  ballot. 
This  being  done,  the  result  showed  that  the  resolution  was 
defeated,  there  being  fifty-two  yeas  and  seventy-three 
nays. 

Though  Lee  had  been  the  first  to  propose  a  delegated 
General  Conference,  he  contended  against  the  entire 
plan.  His  principal  argument  was  based  upon  a  doc- 
trine of  conference  rights.  After  long  discussion,  per- 
ceiving that  the  report  might  be  adopted,  he  moved 
that  the  delegates  should  be  sent  by  seniority  instead  of 
by  election. 

When  upon  the  first  resolution  the  vote  was  taken  by 
ballot,  there  were  fifty-seven  yeas  and  sixty-four  nays.  It 
was  soon  suspected  and  finally  known  that  the  measure 
was  defeated  principally  by  the  votes  of  the  Philadelphia 
and  Baltimore  conferences.  Asbury  was  greatly  disap- 
pointed. The  New  England  delegates  prepared  to  return 
home,  the  Western  were  equally  displeased,  and  many  of 
the  members  determined  to  withdraw.  Hedding  states 
that  all  from  New  England  except  himself  were  making 
arrangements  to  do  so.  Paine,  in  his  "  Life  of  McKen- 
dree,"  says  that  six  members  from  New  England  and  two 
from  the  West  were  going  home,  but  that  Asbury  and 
McKendree,  aided  by  Hedding,  prevailed  upon  them  to 
wait  for  a  day. 

By  all  these  "fathers"  it  was  considered  a  crisis  in  the 
career  of  the  denomination,  and  it  was  ever  after  the  belief 
of  Hedding  that  had  these  brethren  departed  it  would  have 
been  the  last  General  Conference  held. 

From  Wednesday  until  the  following  Monday  the  ex- 
citement continued.  The  order  of  events  on  the  latter 
day  was  as  follows :  It  was  moved  and  carried  that  the 
motion   to   fix  the  time  and   place  of  the   next   General 


DEBATE,    COMPROMISE,    AND    CONSTITUTION.      333 

Conference  lie  over  until  it  was  determined  who  should 
compose  it.  This  strategic  motion  was  made  by  Leonard 
Cassel  and  seconded  by  Stephen  G.  Roszel,  and,  it  having 
prevailed,  Enoch  George  moved,  seconded  by  Roszel, 
that  "  the  General  Conference  shall  be  composed  of  one 
member  for  every  five  members  of  each  Annual  Con- 
ference." Soule  then  moved,  seconded  by  Pickering, 
that  "  each  Annual  Conference  shall  have  the  power  of 
sending  their  proportionate  number  of  members  to  the 
General  Conference  either  by  seniority  or  choice,  as  they 
shall  think  best." 

Leroy  M.  Lee  ^  states  that  this  motion  placed  Lee  be- 
tween his  two  doctrines,  the  independent  rights  of  the 
conferences  and  the  condition  of  seniority,  neutralizing  his 
opposition.  Immediately  after  this  it  was  decided  that 
the  next  General  Conference  should  be  held  in  New  York, 
May  I,  18 12.  Lee,  being  now  conciliated,  seconded  the 
motion  of  Roszel  that  "  two  thirds  of  the  representatives 
of  all  the  Annual  Conferences  should  be  necessary  for 
a  quorum  in  the  General  Conference." 

On  Tuesday,  May  24th,  Lee  moved,  seconded  by  Burke, 
that  the  General  Conference  "  shall  not  change  or  alter 
any  part  or  rule  of  our  government  so  as  to  destroy  epis- 
copacy, or  to  destroy  the  plan  of  our  itinerant  general 
superintendency."  Cooper's  proposal  to  cover  this  point 
was,  "  they  shall  not  take  away  episcopacy  or  reduce  our 
ministry  to  a  presbyterial  parity." 

It  was  then  moved  by  Roszel,  and  seconded  by  Pickering, 
that  "  one  of  the  superintendents  preside  in  the  General 
Conference  ;  but,  in  case  of  the  absence  of  the  superintend- 
ent, the  conference  shall  elect  a  president//'^  tern.''  Next 
it  was  moved  by  Roszel,  and  seconded  by  Nelson  Reed, 
that  "  the  General  Conference  shall  have  full  powers  to 

1  "  Life  of  Jesse  Lee,"  pp.  442,  443. 


334  ^'-^^  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xui. 

make  rules  and  regulations  for  our  church  under  the  fol- 
lowing restrictions : 

"  The  General  Conference  shall  not  revoke,  alter,  or 
change  our  Articles  of  Religion,  nor  establish  any  new 
standards  or  rules  of  doctrine  contrary  to  our  present  ex- 
isting and  established  standards  of  doctrine. 

"They  shall  not  allow  of  more  than  one  representative 
for  every  five  members  of  an  Annual  Conference,  nor  allow 
of  a  less  number  than  one  for  every  seven." 

At  this  point  it  was  moved  to  appoint  a  committee  of 
three  to  modify  certain  exceptionable  expressions  in  the 
General  Rules.  This  was  lost,  and  the  third  rule,  as  moved 
by  Roszel,  "  They  shall  not  revoke  or  change  the  '  General 
Rules  of  the  United  Societies,'  "  was  then  passed.  The 
next,  as  follows,  was  carried : 

"  They  shall  not  do  away  the  privileges  of  our  ministers 
or  preachers  of  trial  by  a  committee,  and  of  an  appeal ; 
neither  shall  they  do  away  the  privileges  of  our  members 
of  trial  before  the  Society,  or  by  a  committee,  and  of  an 
appeal." 

And  afterward  the  following :  "  They  shall  not  appropri- 
ate the  produce  of  the  Book  Concern  or  of  the  Charter 
Fund  to  any  purpose  other  than  for  the  benefit  of  the  travel- 
ing, supernumerary,  superannuated,  and  worn-out  preach- 
ers, their  wives,  widows,  and  children,"  concluding  with 
this  provision  for  alteration  of  the  restrictions : 

"  Provided,  nevertheless,  that,  upon  the  joint  recom- 
mendation of  all  the  Annual  Conferences,  then  a  majority 
of  two  thirds  of  the  General  Conference  succeeding  shall 
suffice  to  alter  any  of  the  above  restrictions." 

The  same  afternoon  it  was  moved  by  Ostrander,  and 
seconded  by  Cooper,  that  "  the  general  superintendent, 
with  or  by  the  advice  of  all  the  Annual  Conferences  re- 
spectively, shall  have  power  to  call  a  General  Conference 


ELECTIONS  AND    REGULATIONS.  335 

if  they  judge  it  necessary  at  any  time."  On  motion  of 
Asbury  the  following  was  passed  :  "  That  the  General  Con- 
ference shall  meet  on  the  first  day  of  May  once  in  four 
years  perpetually,  and  at  such  place  or  places  as  shall  be 
fixed  on  by  the  General  Conference  from  time  to  time." 

Thus  by  a  happy  union  of  the  contending  forces  repre- 
sentative government  was  introduced  under  a  constitution 
which  guaranteed  the  doctrines,  essential  features  of  the 
discipline,  the  rights,  privileges,  and  duties  of  ministers 
and  members,  and,  so  far  as  laws  could  contribute  to  it, 
the  preservation  of  the  spirit  of  primitive  Methodism, 
which  is  the  spirit  of  original  Christianity. 

The  conference  by  resolutions  consented  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  person  to  raise  a  subscription  in  any  part  of 
the  connection  to  assist  in  defraying  "  the  enormous  debt 
on  the  new  church  in  Boston.  "  It  made  a  draft  of  five 
hundred  dollars  on  the  Book  Fund  to  pay  the  expenses 
of  the  more  needy  preachers  back  to  their  circuits ;  gave 
Cooper  a  thousand  dollars  as  extra  compensation  as  book- 
steward  for  the  first  five  years  ;  employed  J.  Wilson  as 
editor  and  book-steward  at  a  yearly  salary  of  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars,  and  Daniel  Hitt  as  assistant  editor 
and  book-steward,  at  six  hundred  dollars.  It  resolved 
that  no  traveling  preacher  should  publish  any  book  or 
pamphlet  without  the  approbation  of  the  Annual  Con- 
ference to  which  he  belonged,  or  of  a  committee  chosen 
by  them;  and  substituted  the  word  "allowance"  for 
"  salary  "  wherever  it  occurred  in  the  Discipline. 

On  motion  of  Asbury  it  passed  the  following  portentous 
resolution : 

"  That  there  be  one  thousand  Forms  of  Discipline  pre- 
pared for  the  use  of  the  South  Carolina  Conference,  in 
which  the  section  and  rule  on  slavery  be  left  out." 

The  fact  that  Bangs  does  not  refer  to  this  subject  has 


336  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xiii. 

been  noticed  by  several  writers.  Just  before  this  a  motion 
to  strike  out  the  whole  section  in  the  Discipline  respect- 
ing" slavery  was  lost,  and  just  after  it  Roszel  moved, 
seconded  by  Ware,  that  the  first  two  paragraphs  of  the 
section  on  slavery  be  retained  in  the  Discipline,  and  that 
the  General  Conference  authorize  each  Annual  Confer- 
ence to  frame  its  own  regulations  relative  to  buying  and 
selling  slaves. 

It  has  been  said  by  a  writer  that  such  measures  tempt 
us  to  blush  at  every  aspect  in  which  they  present  the  leg- 
islative acumen  of  our  fathers.  Should  it  not  the  rather 
be  said  that  they  show  to  what  lengths  legislators  of  be- 
nevolent minds  may  go  to  promote  peace,  and  emphasize 
the  oft-repeated  teaching  of  God's  Word  that  peace  may 
be  purchased  at  a  price  too  dear? 

As  Lee  represented  the  opposition  at  the  General  Con- 
ference of  1808,  and  as  his  "  History  of  the  Methodists" 
was  copyrighted  in  December  of  that  year,  his  testimony 
as  to  the  reception  of  the  work  of  that  body,  and  as  to  the 
necessity  of  establishing  representation,  is  valuable : 

"  Our  connection  having  spread  very  extensively,  and 
the  number  of  our  preachers  being  much  larger  than  for- 
merly, it  was  thought  best  to  make  some  new  regulations 
about  our  General  Conference  in  future,  and  the  foregoing 
regulations  were  agreed  to,  by  which  means  each  part  of 
the  connection  would  have  a  proportionable  number  of 
preachers  in  the  General  Conference.  The  Baltimore  and 
Philadelphia  conferences  will  no  longer  include  more  than 
half  the  members  of  the  General  Conference.  .  .  .  There 
was  a  good  deal  of  peace  and  union  among  the  preachers 
at  that  General  Conference,  and  there  were  one  hundred 
and  thirty  traveling  preachers  who  were  members  of  that 
conference.  Mr.  McKendree  had  been  a  traveling  preacher 
just  twenty  years  when  he  was  ordained  a  bishop.     Most 


RELIGIOUS   INFLUENCE    OF   CONFERENCE.  T^^'J 

of  the  preachers  returned  from  that  conference  well  satis- 
fied with  what  was  done  while  we  were  together." 

The  religious  influence  of  this  conference  was  as  valu- 
able to  the  denomination  as  was  its  work  in  legislation. 
On  Sunday,  the  8th,  Pickering  preached  in  the  market- 
house,  and  three  preachers  exhorted  afterward ;  later 
McKendree  preached  his  great  sermon ;  in  the  afternoon 
Mead  preached  at  Oldtown,  while  Asbury  preached  the 
opening  sermon  of  a  new  chapel.  Three  times  a  day  there 
was  preaching  in  one  of  the  churches,  and  every  evening 
in  the  four  others,  all  these  services  resulting  in  conver- 
sions. On  the  following  Sunday,  McKendree  preached 
at  7  A.M.,  Asbury  at  ten,  Gruber  in  German  at  three 
o'clock  in  Otterbein's  church,  McKendree  at  five,  and 
McClaskey  in  the  evening.  On  the  last  Sunday  of  the 
conference  Pickering  preached  at  six,  Coate  at  seven, 
Gruber  at  three  to  the  colored  people,  Cooper  at  five,  and 
Lee  in  the  evening.  Henry  Boehm,  who  gives  these  par- 
ticulars, says  that  there  was  a  great  deal  more  preaching 
— that  he  has  simply  named  the  men  he  heard. i 

1  "  Reminiscences,  Historical  and  Biographical,  of  Sixty-four  Years  in  the 
Ministry,"  by  Henry  Boehm,  edited  by  J.  B.  Wakeley  (New  York,  1865). 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

EVOLUTION    UNDER    A    CONSTITUTION. 

Close  attention  to  detail  was  necessary  so  long  as  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  governed  by  assemblies 
with  power  to  repeal  any  act  of  their  predecessors,  and 
even,  by  a  vote  of  a  majority,  disband  the  church,  or 
transform  it  into  something  wholly  unlike  itself.  Here- 
after must  chiefly  be  noted  salient  steps  in  the  march  of 
an  army  thoroughly  drilled  and  ever  ready  for  the  charge. 

Early  in  1811,  after  various  disputes  between  England 
and  this  country,  there  was  an  encounter  between  an 
American  and  an  English  vessel,  and  an  American  court  of 
inquiry  decided  that  the  first  shot  was  fired  by  the  Eng- 
lish, which  gave  rise  to  an  apprehension  of  serious  com- 
plications with  Great  Britain.  This  resulted  in  an  ex- 
tended discussion,  and  an  increase  of  the  army  by  the 
addition  of  twenty- five  thousand  men.  The  agitation  was 
not  favorable  to  the  spread  of  Methodism,  but  consider- 
able attention  was  given  to  the  erection  of  churches. 

The  General  Conference  of  18 12  met  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  with  fifteen  delegates  from  the  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence, fourteen  from  the  Philadelphia,  thirteen  from  the 
New  York,  and  the  same  number  from  the  Western, 
eleven  from  the  Virginia,  nine  each  from  the  New  Eng- 
land and  the  South  Carolina,  and  six  from  the  Genesee. 

A  question  arose  respecting  some  of  the  delegates  from 

338 


INTRODUCTION  OF  NEW  METHODS.  339 

New  England.  Three  reserves  had  been  elected  to 
'■  succeed  and  take  the  place  in  case  of  the  failure  of 
any  of  the  first  chosen  delegates."  By  a  vote  of  fifty- 
six  against  twenty-two,  it  was  decided  that  they  should 
be  seated. 

The  conference  decided  by  a  majority  of  nearly  two 
thirds  that  it  had  power  to  resolve  itself  into  a  committee 
of  the  whole. 

McKendree  presented  his  views  in  writing,  an  act  with- 
out precedent.  Asbury  immediately  arose,  and  in  sub- 
stance thus  addressed  him :  "  I  have  something  to  say  to 
you  before  the  conference."  McKendree  rose,  and  they 
stood  face  to  face.  Then  said  Asbury,  "  This  is  a  new 
thing.  I  never  did  business  in  this  way,  and  why  is  this 
new  thing  introduced?"  McKendree  replied,  "You  are 
our  father;  we  are  your  sons.  You  never  have  had  need 
of  it.      I  am  only  a  brother,  and  have  need  of  it." 

The  various  parts  of  this  address  were  referred  to  special 
committees,  the  one  on  the  episcopacy  being  elected  by 
ballot. 

I>ee  moved  that  "  the  members  of  the  next  General 
Conference  ^o  by  seniority,  and  that  the  supernumerary 
and  superannuated  preachers  shall  not  be  included  among 
the  senior  preachers ;  also  that  one  for  every  six  members 
shall  go  to  the  next  General  Conference,  and  in  case  there 
are  two  or  more  preachers  of  equal  standing,  then  the 
first-named  shall  have  the  preference,  and  should  any  of 
the  above-named  preachers  fail  by  sickness  or  otherwise 
to  attend  the  General  Conference,  then  the  next  senior 
preacher  shall  go  in  his  place." 

This  was  an  important  series  of  motions,  and  raised  the 
question  at  once  of  the  powers  of  the  delegated  conference 
under  the  rules  formed  "  for  the  perpetuation  and  regula- 
tion of  General  Conferences"  by  that  of  1808.      The  first 


340  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xiv. 

proposition  also  involved  the  question  upon  which  Lee 
had  been  outgeneraled  in  the  preceding  conference.  On 
Friday,  the  questions  being  divided,  both  motions  were 
lost. 

James  Axley,  a  member  from  the  Western  Conference, 
moved  that  "  no  stationed  or  local  preacher  shall  retail 
spirituous  or  malt  liquors  without  forfeiting  his  ministerial 
character  among  us."  This  motion  was  defeated;  but  in 
the  pastoral  address  was  inserted  :  "  It  is  with  regret  that 
we  have  seen  the  use  of  ardent  spirits,  dram-drinking, 
and  so  forth,  so  common  among  the  Methodists.  We 
have  endeavored  to  suppress  the  practice  by  our  example, 
but  it  is  necessary  that  we  add  precept  to  example ;  and 
we  really  think  it  not  consistent  with  the  character  of  a 
Christian  to  be  immersed  in  the  practice  of  distilling  or 
retailing  an  article  so  destructive  to  the  morals  of  society, 
and  we  do  most  earnestly  recommend  the  Annual  Con- 
ferences and  our  people  to  join  with  us  in  making  a  firm 
and  constant  stand  against  an  evil  which  has  ruined 
thousands  both  in  time  and  eternity." 

This  shows  that  those  who  have  inferred  that  the  con- 
ference was  in  sympathy  with  the  use  of  spirituous  or 
malt  liquors  because  it  declined  to  pass  the  motion  made 
by  Axley  are  not  warranted  in  the  conclusion.  Since  the 
practice  had  grown  up  gradually,  it  was  deemed  by  the 
majority  improper  to  pass  a  rule  at  that  time. 

John  Sale  moved  a  resolution  to  prevent  the  preachers 
and  private  members  from  buying  or  holding  lottery 
tickets,  or  having  anything  to  do  with  them ;  but  the  con- 
ference was  divided  in  sentiment  upon  the  subject,  and 
the  motion  was  postponed  until  May  i,  1816.  Lotteries 
were  then  considered  a  proper  method  of  raising  money  for 
churches. 

The  most  important  debate  was  upon  a  proposition  to 


A    VEXED    QUESTION  REAPPEARS.  341 

legalize  the  election  of  presiding  elders  by  the  Annual 
Conferences — a  subject  which  had  been  an  occasion  of 
controversy  at  almost  every  General  Conference.  Laban 
Clark,  of  New  England,  offered  a  resolution  in  favor  of  it, 
to  which  Nicholas  Snethen  moved  an  amendment  "  that 
the  bishops  shall  have  power  to  nominate  presiding  elders, 
and  if  the  first  nomination  is  not  ratified  by  a  majority  of 
the  Annual  Conference,  the  bishqp  shall  proceed  to  nom- 
inate until  a  choice  is  made ;  and  in  all  cases  each  nomi- 
nation shall  be  determined  separately  by  ballot,  without 
debate."  While  this  was  pending,  it  was  moved  that  the 
subject  lie  on  the  table  until  the  bishops  gave  their  opin- 
ion. This  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  forty-one  for  and  forty- 
two  against.  On  the  decision  of  the  question,  eighty-two 
votes  were  cast,  of  which  thirty-nine  were  in  favor  and 
forty-three  against  the  election  of  presiding  elders.  The 
delegates  of  the  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  Genesee 
conferences,  thirty-three  in  number,  were  sent  under  in- 
structions to  vote  for  it,  and  they  did  so  ;  which  shows  that 
four  fifths  of  the  other  five  conferences  were  against  it. 
Among  the  advocates  were  Ware,  Garrettson,  Cooper, 
Lee,  Asa  Shinn,  and  Nicholas  Snethen.^ 

To  McKendree  is  due  the  cabinet,  so  called.  Asbury 
would  never  permit  the  presiding  elders  to  counsel  him  in 
stationing  preachers.  He  knew  them  all,  and  declared 
that  he  did  not  wish  his  judgment  confused  by  the  prej- 
udices and  prepossessions  of  others ;  for  he  had  "  no  ends 
to  gain";  some  of  them  might  have.  Asbury,  without 
success,  urged  McKendree  to  pursue  the  same  course. 
The  original  plan  of  these  two  bishops  was  to  attend  the 
conferences  together,  as  Asbury  and  Coke  had  done,  and, 
more  recently,  Asbury  and  Whatcoat. 

Many  of  the  influential  members  of  the  conference  were 
1  "  General  Conference  Journals,"  vol.  i.,  p.  115. 


342  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xiv. 

convinced  of  the  necessity  of  a  denominational  periodical. 
The  "  Methodist  Magazine  "  was  started  in  i  789,  but  sus- 
pended the  year  following.  For  reasons  not  fully  under- 
stood at  the  present  day,  so  many  were  opposed  to  it  that 
a  vote  directing  the  agents  to  resume  the  publication  of 
the  magazine  passed  by  a  bare  majority. 

It  was  decided  by  ballot  to  hold  the  next  General  Con- 
ference in  Baltimore.  Early  the  next  month  Congress 
passed  a  bill,  which  was  signed  by  the  President,  declar- 
ing war  with  Great  Britain.  During  three  years  the  war 
was  waged  on  land  and  sea  with  varying  fortunes,  until 
the  last  battle,  which  took  place  at  New  Orleans  on  the 
8th  of  January,  1815.  The  effect  of  this  conflict  on  the 
relations  between  the  Canadas  and  the  United  States  was 
exceedingly  unhappy.  Bangs,  appointed  presiding  elder 
in  the  lower  province,  was  to  have  charge  also  of  Montreal, 
but  by  the  consent  of  the  bishops  gave  up  his  journey  when 
he  had  reached  Lansingburg,  N.  Y.,  and  remained  in  the 
United  States  ;  and  only  one  preacher,  Thomas  Burch,  who 
volunteered  for  Canada,  succeeded  in  reaching  it.  The 
ministers  in  Upper  Canada  belonged  to  the  Genesee  Con- 
ference, but  were  unable  to  attend  its  session,  as  all  friendly 
intercourse  between  the  two  countries  was  suspended. 

A  sect  known  as  Reformed  Methodists  arose  in  181 3, 
led  by  Pliny  Brett,  who  was  refused  admittance  into  full 
connection  in  the  New  England  Conference.  This  party 
claimed  peculiar  attainments  in  holiness,  and  was  the 
means  of  destroying  one  or  two  large  and  several  small 
societies,  particularly  on  Cape  Cod  and  in  Vermont. 

Under  the  auspices  of  the  British  Wesleyan  connection, 
Dr.  Coke,  accompanied  by  six  missionaries,  embarked  on 
the  loth  of  December,  181 3  for  Ceylon.  On  the  morning 
of  the  5th  of  May,  18 14,  he  was  discovered  lifeless  in  his 
cabin,  and  it  was  the  opinion  of  the  ship's  surgeon  that 


THE  DEATH  OF  COKE.  343 

death  was  occasioned  by  a  stroke  of  apoplexy,  "  to  which, 
from  the  make  of  his  body  and  the  nature  of  his  constitu- 
tion, he  appeared  to  have  been  somewhat  predisposed."  ^ 

One  of  the  missionaries,  in  the  presence  of  the  soldiers, 
the  crew,  and  the  passengers,  read  the  burial  service  over 
the  body  of  this  man,  venerable  with  age,  learning,  and 
services  to  the  Christian  church ;  and,  as  the  sun  was  sink- 
ing, "  the  casket  and  its  precious  contents  were  cast  into 
the  Indian  Ocean,  to  await  the  fulfillment  of  the  promise, 
'  the  sea  shall  give  up  its  dead.'  " 

Memorial  sermons  were  preached  in  the  principal  Meth- 
odist churches  and  chapels  of  the  world.  Wherever  As- 
•bury  went  he  delivered  such  to  the  conferences,  pronounc- 
ing Coke  a  man  "  of  blessed  mind  and  will ;  of  the  third 
branch  of  Oxonian  Methodists ;  a  gentleman,  a  scholar, 
and  a  bishop  to  us ;  and,  as  a  minister  of  Christ,  in  zeal,  in 
labors,  and  in  services  the  greatest  man  in  the  last  cen- 
tury." This  eulogium  is  merited;  but  had  he  spoken  in 
such  exalted  terms  of  his  judgment,  it  would  have  been 
an  exaggeration. 

As  the  war  continued  Methodism  in  Canada  suffered 
exceedingly.  The  circuits  in  Upper  Canada  were  manned, 
but  those  in  Montreal,  St.  Francis,  and  Ottawa  were  with- 
out regular  supplies.  The  church  in  Quebec  had  no  reg- 
ular pastor  for  two  years  of  the  struggle,  but  a  Methodist 
surgeon  in  a  British  regiment  preached  there  efficiently, 
and  when  his  regiment  was  removed  a  local  preacher  was 
developed. 

When  peace  was  declared  the  membership  in  Canada 
had  been  reduced  to  little  more  than  half  the  number  at 
the  beginning  of  hostilities.  The  Genesee  Conference  re- 
sumed care  of  the  country.  William  Case  was  made  pre- 
siding  elder   of   the    Upper   Canada   district,   and   Henry 

1  Drew's  "  Life  of  Coke." 


344  '^^^  METIIODIsrS.  [Chap,  xiv. 

Ryan  of  the  Lower  Canada.  The  British  Conference, 
however,  sent  over  three  rnissionaries  for  Montreal  and 
Quebec. 

Tlie  increase  in  1813  was  18,950  in  members,  but  the 
following  year  exhibited  a  decrease  of  3178;  the  number 
of  traveling  preachers  jvas  decreased  by  one.  The  in- 
crease of  members  in  181 5  was  but  36,  and  of  preachers 
17;  justifying  Wesley's  aphorism  that  "war  is  always  a 
foe  to  true  religion." 

Asbury  left  Albany,  N.  Y.,  on  the  27th  of  May,  181 5, 
to  attend  the  New  England  Conference,  reaching  Boston 
eleven  days  later  greatly  exhausted,  so  that  during  the 
session  he  was  confined  to  his  room.  By  great  effort  he 
was  able  to  ordain  twelve  deacons  and  twelve  elders,  but 
resigned  the  presidential  chair  to  George  Pickering.  With 
indomitable  courage  he  had  planned  a  tour  of  sixteen  hun- 
dred miles,  but  weakness  compelled  him  to  reduce  it  "  to 
a  straight  ride  of  three  hundred  and  eighty  miles  to  New 
York." 

This  led  him  through  Ashgrove,  where  he  preached  in 
the  chapel.  He  regarded  his  visit  with  the  greatest  in- 
terest, for  the  society  had  been  formed  by  Philip  Em- 
bury, who  had  removed  from  New  York  in  1 769,  and  for 
six  years  had  been  chaplain  and  class-leader  of  the  few 
pious  souls  who  formed  the  settlement.  Injured  while 
mowing  in  his  field,  he  had  died  in  1775,  and  Asbury 
always  spoke  tenderly  of  that  little  society. 

After  preaching  in  New  York  he  went  to  Wilmington, 
where  he  found  Judge  Bassett  helpless  from  a  second 
stroke  of  paralysis.  Thence  he  traveled  to  Ohio,  and, 
although  ill,  presided  at  the  Oiiio  Conference.  McKen- 
dree  met  him  here,  and  accompanied  him  to  Cincinnati. 
Later  he  attended  the  Tennessee  Conference  and  preached 
on  the  death  of  Coke,  recording  in  his  "Journal"  these 


THE  DEATH  OF  ASBURY. 


345 


pathetic  words:  "  My  eyes  fail.  I  will  resign  the  stations 
to  Bishop  McKendree.  /  zvill  take  azvay  my  feet.  It  is 
the  fifty-fifth  year  of  ministry,  and  forty-fifth  year  of 
labor  in  America.  My  mind  enjoys  great  peace  and 
divine  consolation." 

This  was  the  last  conference  he  attended,  and  in  De- 
cember he  made  the  last  entry  in  his  "Journal."  His 
doubts  and  fears  were  gone,  and  he  wrote :  "  My  conso- 
lations are  great.      I  live  in  God  from  moment  to  moment." 

On  the  24th  of  March,  hoping  to  attend  the  General 
Conference,  which  was  to  meet  in  Baltimore,  he  started 
northward,  reaching  Richmond,  Va.  There  he  preached 
his  last  sermon.  Not  being  strong  enough  to  walk,  even 
with  the  support  of  his  friends,  he  was  carried  into  the 
church  in  their  arms.  His  text  was,  "  For  he  will  finish 
the  work,  and  cut  it  short  in  righteousness  :  because  a  short 
work  will  the  Lord  make  upon  the  earth." 

Accompanied  by  the  Rev.  John  Wesley  Bond,  he  jour- 
neyed until  the  29th  of  March,  when  he  reached  the  house 
of  Mr.  Arnold  in  Spottsylvania,  eighteen  miles  from  Fred- 
ericksburg; and  there  on  Sunday,  March  31,  18 16,  he  died, 
testifying  by  expressive  gestures  to  his  love,  hope,  and 
peace,  when  he  could  no  longer  speak. ^ 

Can  his  career  be  paralleled?  "  In  his  American  minis- 
try alone  he  preached  sixteen  thousand  five  hundred  ser- 
mons, ordained  more  than  four  thousand  preachers,  trav- 
eled on  horseback  or  in  carriages  two  hundred  and  seventy 
thousand  miles."  Well  does  Stevens  say  that,  with  "Wes- 
ley, Whitefield,  and  Coke,  he  ranks  as  one  of  the  four 
greatest  representative  men  of  the  Methodist  movement." 
So  fine  was  his  discrimination  that  his  estimate  of  men  was 
almost  infallible,  and  such  his  self-restraint  that  one  could 

1  "  Bishop  Asbury  :  A  Biographical  Study  for  Christian  Workers,"  by  the 
Rev.  F.  W.  Briggs,  M.A.  (Wesleyan  Conference  Office,  London,  England). 


346  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chai'.  xiv. 

never  discern  his  thoughts  before  he  was  disposed  to  dis- 
close them. 

Contentions  between  the  white  and  the  colored  Meth- 
odists of  Philadelphia  increased  to  such  an  extent  that 
John  Emory  issued  a  circular  letter  to  the  colored  people 
of  Bethel  Church  stating  that  the  white  preachers  could 
no  longer  maintain  pastoral  responsibility  over  them.  On 
account  of  this  "  they  considered  themselves  disowned 
by  the  Methodists."  A  meeting-house  was  fitted  up  not 
far  from  Bethel,  and  an  invitation  given  to  all  colored 
people  who  desired  to  be  Methodists  to  attend  there. 
But  this  plan  not  succeeding,  in  1814  Robert  R.  Roberts, 
an  elder  and  pastor  of  St.  George's  Church,  insisted  upon 
preaching  to  and  taking  pastoral  charge  of  them,  claiming 
the  right  to  do  so  under  a  contract  made  between  the 
members  of  Bethel  Church  and  the  Methodists  at  the  time 
Asbury  ordained  Allen  a  deacon.  Being  advised  that  he 
ought  to  make  terms  with  the  trustees,  he  replied  that 
"  he  did  not  come  to  consult  with  Richard  Allen  or  the 
trustees,  but  to  notify  the  congregation  that  on  the  next 
Sabbath  he  would  be  present  and  take  charge."  He  was 
informed  that  he  could  not  be  allowed  to  preach ;  never- 
theless at  the  appointed  time  he  came.  The  trustees, 
having  taken  legal  counsel,  had  placed  their  own  preacher 
in  the  pulpit,  and  so  disposed  the  congregation  that  it  was 
impossible  for  Roberts  to  reach  it,  and  after  some  debate 
he  departed. 

The  next  year  his  successor,  Robert  Burch,  pursued  a 
similar  course  with  a  like  result,  in  consequence  of  which 
he  applied  to  the  Supreme  Court  for  a  writ  of  man- 
damus. The  application  was  decided  in  favor  of  Bethel 
Church. 

The  colored  people  of  that  society  and  those  of  their 
own  race  who  sympathized  with  them  organized  them- 


RISE    OF  AFRICAN  CHURCHES.  347 

selves  in  18 16  into  an  independent  body,  adopting  as  their 
standards  the  doctrines  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and,  with  very  few  modifications,  its  Form  of  Discipline. 
They  held  their  first  General  Conference  in  April,  18 16, 
and  Richard  Allen,  previously  ordained  an  elder,  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  bishop,  and  was  consecrated  by 
prayer  and  the  imposition  of  the  hands  of  five  colored  local 
elders,  one  of  whom,  Absalom  Jones,  was  a  priest  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  Thus  arose  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Peter  Spencer,  a  colored  man  in  Wilmington,  Del.,  had 
been  set  apart  in  1813  by  election,  and  the  laying  on  of 
hands  of  three  lay  elders  who  were  chosen  to  that  office 
for  a  special  purpose,  thus  becoming  the  germ  of  the  Union 
American  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

News  of  the  establishment  of  these  denominations 
stirred  up  considerable  uneasiness  among  the  colored  con- 
gregations of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  different 
parts  of  the  country,  especially  in  New  York.  The  colored 
Methodists  of  that  city  had  applied  for  the  ordination  as 
elders  of  some  of  their  local  preachers,  but  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  meted  out  to  them  in  substance  the 
same  treatment  which  the  early  Methodists  had  received 
from  the  English  church,  a  kind  of  Fabian  policy  of  in- 
activity. The  aggressiveness  of  Peter  Spencer  and  Allen, 
espec'ally  of  the  latter,  compelled  the  Zion  people  in  New 
York  to  renew  their  efforts  to  obtain  ordination  by  the 
bishops.^ 

In  rebuilding  John  Street  Church,  in  181  7,  the  trustees 
and  other  members  became  involved  in  controversy,  and 
the  contest  growing  bitter,  William  M.  Stillwell,  a  travel- 
ing preacher,  three  trustees,  and  three  hundred  members 

1  "  One  Hundred  Years  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,'' 
by  Bishop  J.  W.  Hood  (A.  M.  E.  Zion  Book  Concern,  New  York  City),  p.  62. 


348  THE  METIIODIS'J'S.  [Chap.  xiv. 

of  the  society  seceded.  Various  local  preachers  and  mem- 
bers affiliated  with  them,  and  the  sect  became  known  as 
Stillwellites.  For  a  time  it  increased  rapidly  ;  but  soon  it 
was  seen  that  it  had  no  distinctive  principles  and  could 
supply  no  demand  ;  and  most  of  the  seceders  returned  to 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  "  convinced  that  it  is 
easier  to  destroy  a  good  church  than  to  make  a  better 
one."  ^  Those  who  did  not  return  renounced  the  itiner- 
ancy, and  formed  a  Congregational  church,  of  which  Still- 
well  was  pastor.  In  a  few  years,  however,  it  utterly  dis- 
appeared. 

The  minister  who  was  last  appointed  from  the  New 
York  Conference  to  Zion  Colored  Church  in  New  York 
was  among  the  seceders.  He  was  allowed  to  finish  his 
year,  not  as  an  appointee  of  the  bishop,  but  as  called  by 
the  church.  They  availed  themselves  of  the  help  of  Dr. 
James  Covel,  Sylvester  Hutchinson,  and  William  M.  Still- 
well,  who  set  apart  Abraham  Thompson,  James  Varick, 
and  Leven  Smith  as  elders,  they  having  been  previously 
ordained  deacons.  Thus  originated  the  African  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Zion  Church. 

The  General  Conference  of  1816  met  on  the  first  day 
of  May,  and  consisted  of  sixteen  delegates  from  the  New 
York  Conference,  fourteen  each  from  the  South  Carolina, 
the  Baltimore,  and  the  Philadelphia,  twelve  from  the  New 
P^ngland,  ten  each  from  the  Genesee  and  the  Virginia,  nine 
from  the  Ohio,  and  six  from  the  Tennessee.  Asbury  had 
prepared  an  address,  which  was  solemnly  read  to  the  con- 
ference by  the  secretary,  as  was  one  from  McKendree.  Be- 
sides this  communication  Bishop  Asbur}',  August  5,  18 13, 
prepared  a  remarkable  valedictory  epistle  "  to  William 
McKendree,  Bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church." 
Enoch  George  and  Robert  Richford  Roberts  were  elected 

1  Porter's  "  History  of  Methodism,"  p.  337. 


ELECTION  OF  BISHOPS  GEORGE  AND   ROBERTS.  349 

bishops  on  the  14th  of  May,  the  former  having  fifty-seven 
and  the  latter  fifty-five  votes.  George  was  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia, trained  in  a  family  where  religion  was  merely  a  form, 
notwithstanding  it  was  within  the  parish  of  Devereaux  Jar- 
ratt,  that  "  Methodist  before  Methodism."  On  removing 
to  another  part  of  the  State  the  family  became  acquainted 
with  Methodism.  The  first  preacher  whom  they  heard 
was  John  Easter,  who  had  produced  so  profound  an  im- 
pression upon  McKendree.  When  George  attended  the 
meeting  he  was  at  once  convicted,  but  became  so  terror- 
stricken  that  he  determined  to  be  seen  among  them  no 
more.  On  reflection  he  came  to  a  better  mind,  was  con- 
verted, and  being  called  to  the  ministry  in  1 789,  began  to 
travel  with  Cox,  at  that  time  book-steward.  The  latter  in- 
troduced him  to  Asbury,  who  admitted  him  to  the  confer- 
ence on  trial  in  1 790.  Six  years  later  he  was  presiding  elder 
of  the  Charleston  district.  The  next  year,  compelled  by  ill- 
ness to  refrain  from  labor,  he  located,  becoming  a  teacher. 
After  some  years  of  retirement  he  joined  the  Baltimore 
Conference,  filling  important  positio'ns  effectively,  and  for 
the  four  years  preceding  this  General  Conference  had  been 
presiding  elder  of  the  Potomac  district.  Unction  in 
preaching,  good  judgment,  humility,  and  dignity  accounted 
for  his  election.^ 

Roberts  was  born  in  Maryland,  in  1778,  of  Welsh  and 
Irish  ancestors,  and  was  converted  when  but  fourteen ; 
was  licensed  as  an  exhorter  in  1800,  and  entered  the 
ministry  in  1802  under  the  guidance  of  James  Ouinn,  be- 
ginning his  ministry  on  Carlisle  circuit,  having  his  resi- 
dence at  York.  After  a  more  than  usually  eventful  and 
successful  probation  he  was  admitted  in  1804  into  full  con- 
nection ;  Coke  and  Asbury  presiding.  He  knew  the  fore- 
most men  of  Methodism,  and  attended  the  General  Con- 

1  Sherman's  "  Life  of  George,"  in  "  Lives  of  Methodist  Bishops." 


350  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xiv. 

ference  of  1808,  where  he  voted  for  an  elective  presiding 
eldership,  afterward,  however,  changing  his  opinions.  He 
was  appointed  in  181 1  to  Alexandria,  Va.,  frequently  ex- 
changing pulpits  with  the  Protestant  Episcopal  minister; 
here  became  intimate  with  President  Madison,  and  when- 
ever he  visited  him,  closed  the  inter\'iew  with  the  President 
and  his  wife  with  prayer. 

Joseph  Samson,  who  had  been  expelled  from  the  Phila- 
delphia Annual  Conference  for  denying  the  divinity  of 
Christ,  and  had  appealed  from  the  decision,  appeared, 
admitted  the  correctness  of  the  journal,  made  a  statement, 
and  retired.  The  constitutionality  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  Philadelphia  Conference  was  called  in  question ;  but 
the  decision  was  affirmed. 

Samuel  Merwin  moved  a  resolution  amending  the  Dis- 
cipline so  as  to  secure  the  election  of  presiding  elders  by 
Annual  Conferences  on  the  nomination  of  bishops.  The 
conference  went  into  a  committee  of  the  whole,  and  after 
several  meetings  voted  against  the  proposal  by  a  majority 
of  eighteen.  This  being  reported  to  the  conference,  de- 
bate was  resumed  on  the  subject.  An  attempt  was  made 
to  divide  the  motion,  which  the  chair  declared  to  be  out  of 
order,  and  an  appeal  was  taken.  By  a  majority  of  three 
the  decision  was  sustained.  The  Committee  on  Ways  and 
Means  made  it  the  duty  of  the  bishop  or  bishops,  or  a  com- 
mittee which  they  might  appoint  in  each  conference,  to 
order  a  course  of  reading  and  study  for  candidates  for  the 
ministry,  and  to  provide  for  their  examination. 

The  relation  of  the  Methodism  of  the  United  States  to 
that  of  Canada  being  under  consideration,  an  elaborate 
communication  was  received  from  the  British  Methodist 
Missionary  Society,  relating  the  facts  concerning  the  send- 
ing of  missionaries  to  Montreal,  and  that  misunderstand- 
ings had  arisen  between  these  and  Henry  Ryan,  the  pre- 


AXLEY'S  PERSEVERANCE    TRIUMPHS.  351 

siding  elder  for  Lower  Canada.  The  missionaries  had 
reported  to  the  British  Conference  what  they  had  done, 
and  Ryan  had  addressed  to  it  a  letter  of  complaint.  The 
committee  expressed  the  hope  that  the  business  might  be 
settled  amicably. 

The  conference  in  response  recited  that  its  committee 
had  had  several  friendly  interviews  with  the  Canadian 
delegates,  Black  and  Bennett,  who  had  been  invited  to 
seats  in  the  body,  and  gave  the  situation  from  its  point  of 
view;  but,  under  all  the  circumstances,  and  especially 
considering  the  contiguity  of  the  provinces  to  the  western 
and  northern  parts  of  the  United  States,  the  General  Con- 
ference resolved  that  "  we  cannot  consistently  with  our 
duty  to  the  societies  of  our  charge  in  the  Canadas  give 
up  any  part  of  them  or  any  of  our  chapels  in  those  prov- 
inces to  the  superintendence  of  the  British  connection." 

Joshua  Soule  was  elected  editor  and  general  book- 
steward,  and  Thomas  Mason  associated  with  him. 

James  Axley  brought  forward  a  motion  similar  to  that 
which  was  defeated  four  years  before,  that  no  preacher 
should  distill  or  retail  spirituous  liquors  without  forfeit- 
ing his  license.  An  attempt  was  made  to  amend  this 
by  adding  "  that  every  prudent  means  be  used  by  our 
Annual  and  Quarterly-meeting  Conferences  to  discourage 
the  distilling  or  retailing  of  spirituous  Hquors  among  our 
people,  and  especially  among  our  preachers."  This  was 
obviously  unpopular  and  immediately  withdrawn,  and 
under  the  previous  question  Axley's  motion  was  passed. 

To  slavery  the  conference  referred  as  an  evil  past 
remedy ;  and,  after  striking  out  some  neglected  recom- 
mendations, enacted  that  "  no  slave-holder  shall  be  eligible 
to  any  official  station  in  our  church  hereafter,  where  the 
laws  of  the  State  in  which  he  lives  will  admit  of  emancipa- 
tion, and  permit  the  liberated  slave  to  enjoy  freedom." 


352  'J JII'.    MEJnOl^lSTS.  yZnt^v.  XIV. 

Two  new  conferences,  the  Mississippi  and  the  Missouri, 
were  added.  During  the  debates  it  had  been  suggested 
that  a  specified  district  of  country  should  be  apportioned 
to  each  bishop ;  the  majority,  however,  preferred  to  leave 
these  things  to  be  regulated  by  the  bishops  themselves, 
recommending  that  each  bishop  visit  all  the  conferences 
at  least  once  in  four  years. 

Asbury,  in  1808,  had  proposed  that  one  thousand  dol- 
lars be  appropriated  from  the  Book  Concern  for  the  print- 
ing of  religious  tracts  to  be  given  away,  and  increasing  use 
had  been  made  of  them.  Holy  women  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1 8 1  7  formed 
a  Tract  Society ;  but  much  research  has  failed  to  disclose 
any  of  their  names,  although  this  organization  became  the 
nucleus  of  the  denominational  Tract  Society. 

Early  Methodism,  in  America  no  less  than  in  Europe, 
was  aided  powerfully  by  its  discreet,  heroic,  and  devout 
women,  of  the  spirit,  but  not  having  the  special  opportu- 
nity, of  Barbara  Heck.  Of  the  seven  or  eight  members  of 
Mr.  Strawbridge's  class,  probably  the  first  formed  in  the 
United  States,  the  names  of  six  are  known,  and  four  were 
women.  The  first  converts  made  under  Strawbridge's 
preaching  appear  to  have  been  John  Evans  and  his 
daughter,  Mrs.  Sarah  Porter.  In  1856  this  lady  gave  an 
account  of  her  father's  conversion,  in  which  she  stated 
that  while  he  was  at  Mr.  Strawbridge's,  assisting  in  doing 
the  farm  work,  Strawbridge  being  absent  on  a  preaching- 
tour,  "  Mrs.  Strawbridge  introduced  the  subject  of  experi- 
mental religion,  which  made  such  an  impression  on  his 
mind  as  to  result  in  his  subsequent  conversion  to  God."  ' 
Mary  Wilmer  was  the  second  female  class-leader  in  Phila- 
delphia. Mr-s.  Judge  White  led  her  husband  to  become  a 
Methodist,  and  it  was  she  who  exhorted  Benjamin  Abbott 

1  Stevens. 


DEBT   OF  METHODISTS    TO    WOMEN.  353 

to  give  himself  wholly  to  God.  Mrs.  Bassett,  of  Delaware, 
"gave  her  influence,  means,  and  bright  example  of  holiness 
to  Methodism,"  as  did  Mrs.  Prudence  Gough,  of  Perry  Hall. 

On  account  of  the  privacy  of  their  lives  the  names  of 
Methodist  women  rarely  appear  in  history,  yet  the  beauty 
of  the  Lord  was  upon  them,  and — like  those  of  these  self- 
denying  founders  of  the  Tract  Society  in  American  Meth- 
odism— the  works  of  their  hands  are  "  established." 

During  the  session  of  the  General  Conference  the 
remains  of  Asbury  were  disinterred  and  borne  to  Balti- 
more, where,  after  a  sermon  from  McKendree,  followed 
by  a  procession  including  all  the  General  Conference  and 
hundreds  of  other  clergymen  from  the  city  and  neighbor- 
ing churches,  they  were  deposited  beneath  the  altar  of 
Eutaw  Street  Church. 

Less  than  four  months  after  the  adjournment  of  the 
conference,  Jesse  Lee  closed  his  career  under  circum- 
stances similar  to  those  surrounding  Whitefield  in  his  last 
hours.  He  was  perhaps  the  most  popular  in  the  modern 
sense  of  the  term,  and  one  of  the  most  effective  in  any 
sense,  of  early  American  Methodist  preachers.  His  last 
station  was  in  Annapolis,  the  capital  of  Maryland.  Dur- 
ing his  services  there  he  attended  a  camp-meeting  near 
Hillsboro,  preaching  twice,  and  in  the  evening  of  the  day 
in  which  his  last  sermon  was  delivered  was  seized  with  a 
congestive  chill  from  which  he  never  rallied.  For  a  short 
time  he  suffered  from  depression,  but  for  several  days  pre- 
ceding his  death  was  exalted  by  holy  joy.  He  was  the 
founder  of  Methodism  in  New  England,  the  first  historian 
of  the  church,  and  chaplain  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives at  Washington  from  1809  to  1 81 5,  when  he  resigned 
to  satisfy  the  scruples  of  some  of  his  brethreij,  who  thought 
it  "  too  near  an  approach  tq  secular  work  for  a  man  in  the 
office  of  a  Methodist  preacher." 


354  ^'^^^    METH0D1S7S.  [Chap.  xiv. 

Asbury  early  chose  him  for  the  episcopacy,  and  several 
times  it  seemed  likely  he  would  be  elected  to  it,  but  his 
manly  independence  and  firmness  of  opinion  in  times  of 
party  strife  were  made  the  occasions  of  his  defeat.  In 
public  services  he  might  fairly  be  ranked  next  to  Asbury.^ 

The  Wesleyan  Academy  was  established  at  New  Mar- 
ket, N.  H.,  in  1818,  by  New  England  Methodist  preachers. 
A  similar  academy,  known  as  the  Wesleyan  Seminary,  was 
founded  in  18 19  in  New  York  City  under  the  patronage 
of  the  New  York  Conference.  Dr.  Samuel  K.  Jennings, 
aided  by  several  citizens  of  Baltimore,  founded  a  literary 
institution  in  that  city  to  be  known  as  Asbury  College,  but 
it  did  not  succeed. 

The  general  Missionary  Society  was  formed  in  April, 
1 8 19,  under  the  name  of  the  Missionary  and  Bible  Society 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America,  the  place 
of  the  first  meeting  being  the  Forsyth  Street  Church,  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  where  a  constitution  was  read  and 
adopted.  The  names  of  the  ministers  present  at  the  time 
the  committee  was  appointed  for  its  formation  were  Free- 
born Garrettson,  Joshua  Soule,  Samuel  Merwin,  Nathan 
Bangs,  Laban  Clark,  Thomas  Mason,  Seth  Crowell,  Samuel 
Howe,  and  Thomas  Thorpe.  Garrettson,  Clark,  and  Bangs 
were  the  committee  who  prepared  the  constitution.  Mc- 
Kendree,  George,  Roberts,  and  Nathan  Bangs  were  re- 
spectively president,  first,  second,  and  third  vice-president. 
Soule  was  treasurer,  Mason  corresponding  secretary.  The 
managers  were  well-known  laymen.  The  entire  receipts 
for  the  first  year  were  $823.64,  and  the  first  anniversary 
was  held  April  17,  1820. 

About  the  same  time  a  missionary  society  was  formed 
within  the  bounds  of  the  Philadelphia  Conference. 

The   "  Methodist   Magazine  "    was   permanently   estab- 

1  Stevens's  "  History  uf  the  Miilunlisi  Kpiscujjal  Church,"  vol.  iv.,  pp. 
510,  511. 


GENERAL    CONFERENCE    OF  1820.  355 

Hshed  in  18 18,  under  the  editorship  of  Soule,  and  not  less 
than  ten  thousand  subscribers  were  obtained  the  first  year. 

The  General  Conference,  to  whicli  the  eleven  confer- 
ences had  elected  eighty-nine  delegates,  assembled,  with 
all  the  bishops  present,  in  Baltimore  May  i,  1820. 

In  view  of  the  increase  of  seminaries  and  the  need  of 
religious  influence  and  continuity  of  method,  the  bishops 
were  authorized  to  appoint  principals  from  among  the 
traveling  preachers  for  a  longer  period  than  two  years. 

Difificulties  in  Canada  had  increased,  and  it  became  ne- 
cessary to  appoint  a  formal  delegate  to  the  British  Confer- 
ence for  the  purpose  of  negotiation. 

The  hymn-book  prepared  by  the  Book  Concern,  con» 
sisting  chiefly  of  hymns  by  John  and  Charles  Wesley,  was 
approved  by  the  conference.  District  conferences  were 
established. 

The  constitutionality  of  the  Annual  Conferences  locat- 
ing traveling  preachers  without  their  consent  was  discussed, 
but  left  unsettled. 

Joshua  Soule  was  elected  a  bishop,  receiving  forty-seven 
of  the  eighty-eight  votes  cast,  and  Nathan  Bangs  thirty- 
eight. 

The  conference  recommended  the  Annual  Conferences 
to  establish,  as  soon  as  practicable,  literary  institutions  under 
their  own  control,  leaving  the  manner  to  their  judgment; 
and  it  made  it  the  special  duty  of  the  episcopacy  to  use 
their  influence  to  carry  this  resolution  into  effect  by  urging 
it  upon  each  of  the  conferences. 

A  protest  was  recorded  against  the  rental  of  pews  in  the 
churches,  and  it  was  ordered  that  the  erection  of  no  house 
of  worship  should  be  commenced  until  three  quarters  of 
the  money  necessary  to  complete  the  building  was  in  hand 
or  subscribed. 

The    burning  question   was    the   election   of  presiding 


356  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xiv. 

elders.  The  conference  resoh^ed,  first,  "  That  whenever, 
in  any  Annual  Conference,  there  shall  be  a  vacancy  or 
vacancies  in  the  ofifice  of  presiding  elder,  in  consequence 
of  his  period  of  service  of  four  years  having  expired,  or 
the  bishop  wishing  to  remove  any  presiding  elder,  or  by 
death,  resignation,  or  otherwise,  the  bishop  or  president 
of  the  conference,  having  ascertained  the  number  wanted 
from  any  of  these  causes,  shall  nominate  three  times  the 
number,  out  of  which  the  conference  shall  elect  by  ballot, 
without  debate,  the  number  wanted  ;  Provided,  when  there 
is  more  than  one  wanted,  not  more  than  three  at  a  time 
shall  be  nominated,  nor  more  than  one  at  a  time  elected ; 
Provided,  also,  that  in  case  of  vacancy  or  vacancies  in  the 
interval  of  any  Annual  Conference,  the  bishop  shall  have 
authority  to  fill  the  said  vacancy  or  vacancies  until  the 
ensuing  Annual  Conference." 

Second  :  "  That  the  presiding  elders  be,  and  hereby  are, 
made  the  advisory  counsel  of  the  bishop  or  president  of 
the  conference  in  stationing  the  preachers." 

This  was  signed  by  Cooper,  Roszel,  Bangs,  Wells, 
Emory,  and  Capers.  The  first  resolution  was  passed  by 
a  vote  of  sixty-one  to  twenty-five  without  change,  and  the 
second  received  a  minor  amendment  by  the  consent  of  the 
committee  and  was  then  adopted. 

Some  days  later  Soule,  bishop  elect,  addressed  a  letter 
to  the  episcopacy,  which  was  publicly  read,  stating  that  if 
ordained  he  would  not  hold  himself  bound  to  be  governed 
by  the  resolutions  of  the  conference  relative  to  the  nom- 
ination and  election  of  presiding  elders,  as  he  did  not 
consider  them  constitutional.  It  was  moved  to  reconsider 
them.  The  discussion  continued  until  the  time  fixed  for 
the  ordination  of  Soule,  and  the  motion  to  reconsider  was 
defeated  by  a  tie,  the  vote  being  by  ballot.  The  next 
day  Soule  presented  his  resignation  of  the  office  of 'bishop. 


CONSTITUTIONAL    CONTROVERSIES.  357 

A  day  later  it  was  moved  that  the  resolution  concerning 
the  nomination  and  election  of  presiding  elders  be  sus- 
pended until  the  next  General  Conference,  and  that  the 
General  Superintendents  be  instructed  to  act  in  the  interval 
under  the  old  rule.  A  point  was  made  that  this  resolution 
was  not  in  order ;  the  chair  held  that  it  was,  and  an  appeal 
being  taken,  its  decision  was  sustained.  At  the  afternoon 
session  Soule  was  requested  to  withdraw  his  resignation,  but 
he  declined  to  do  so  and  it  was  accepted. 

Pending  the  determination  of  the  question,  the  consti- 
tutionality of  the  resolutions  was  discussed  by  the  bishops 
in  private.  It  was  learned  that  Roberts  was  of  the  opin- 
ion that  the  resolutions  infringed  the  constitution  ;  George 
was  silent,  but  McKendree  emphatically  pronounced  them 
unconstitutional,  and  addressed  a  letter  to  the  General 
Conference  to  that  effect,  and  affirming  that,  as  they  were 
without  proper  authority  and  form,  he  considered  himself 
under  no  obligation  to  enforce  them,  or  to  enjoin  upon 
others  to  do  so. 

A  proposition,  signed  by  Roszel  and  Finley,  for  a  new 
law  advising  the  Annual  Conferences  so  to  alter  the  consti- 
tution as  to  give  the  bishops  a  qualified  veto  power  when 
they  should  judge  an  act  of  the  General  Conference 
unconstitutional,  was  carried.  Unsuccessful  efforts  were 
made  to  elect  another  superintendent.  Nathan  Bangs 
was  made  editor  and  general  book-steward,  and  Thomas 
Mason  assistant  book-steward.  The  conference  having 
decided  to  elect  an  agent  for  the  Book  Concern  in  Cincin- 
nati, Martin  Ruter  was  chosen  on  the  second  ballot.  Soule, 
Bangs,  and  Ostrander  were  appointed  a  committee  "  to 
assist  the  episcopacy  to  revise  the  Form  of  Discipline,  and 
conform  it  to  the  regulations  and  resolutions  of  this  con- 
ference." 


CHAPTER  XV. 

CRITICAL    DISCORDS    AND    COMPREHENSIVE 
ENTERPRISES. 

McKendree  addressed  a  letter  to  the  different  confer- 
ences immediately  after  the  adjournment,  protesting  against 
the  suspended  resolutions  as  unconstitutional,  and  seven — 
the  Ohio,  Kentucky,  Missouri,  Tennessee,  Mississippi,  South 
Carolina,  and  Virginia — voted  them  to  be  so,  of  which  six 
recommended  their  legalization  and  adoption  by  a  change 
of  the  constitution  ;  five,  however — the  New  England,  New 
York,  Genesee,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore — refused  to 
take  any  action. 

The  General  Conference  of  1824  assembled  in  Baltimore 
with  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  members.  The  Rev. 
Richard  Reece,  late  president  of  the  British  Conference, 
and  the  Rev.  John  Hannah,  his  accredited  companion,  were 
introduced  to  the  conference  by  the  senior  bishop.  In  the 
letter  from  the  British  Conference  and  in  the  addresses  of 
Mr.  Reece  and  Mr.  Hannah  were  eulogized  the  spirit  and 
communications  of  John  Emory,  who  had  fulfilled  his  mis- 
sion as  fraternal  delegate  to  their  conference. 

The  subject  of  church  government  was  discussed  in  the 
episcopal  address,  and  referred  to  a  committee.  Lovick 
Pierce  proposed,  but  without  effect,  a  plan  to  authorize 
a  new  restriction  on  the  powers  of  the  General  Con- 
ference, giving  the  bishops,  or  a  majority  of  them,  a 
qualified  veto  power,  and  allowing  them  to  state  within 

358 


INCONSISTENT  LEGISLATION.  359 

three  days  their  objections  to  any  act  which  they  deemed 
an  infringement  upon  the  constitution.  If  after  receiving 
such  communication  the  conference  should  reaffirm  the 
said  act  by  a  majority  of  two  thirds  it  should  go  into  effect, 
and  should  it  prevail  by  a  smaller  number  the  bishops  were 
still  to  have  the  power  to  lay  it  before  the  Annual  Confer- 
ences, in  which  case  a  decision  of  a  majority  should  be  final. 

With  a  preamble  stating  that  the  resolutions  suspended 
at  the  last  General  Conference  "  are  null  and  void,  inas- 
much as  a  majority  of  the  Annual  Conferences  have  judged 
them  unconstitutional,  and  whereas  six  recommended  their 
adoption,"  it  was  moved  that  as  soon  as  "  their  adoption 
shall  be  recommended  by  the  other  Annual  Conferences, 
the  same  being  approved  by  two  thirds  of  the  present 
General  Conference,  they  shall  go  into  effect." 

This  resolution  was  not  carried,  but  a  motion  of  David 
Young,  with  a  similar  preamble,  resolving  that  the  "  said 
resolutions  are  not  of  authority  and  shall  not  be  carried 
into  effect,"  was  passed  with  the  narrow  margin  of  two 
majority  in  a  ballot  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-four.  On 
the  last  day  of  the  session,  however,  a  resolution  was  voted 
declaring  that  the  suspended  resolutions  were  "considered 
as  unfinished  business,  and  were  not  to  be  inserted  in  the 
revised  form  of  the  Discipline,  nor  carried  into  effect." 

The  conference  having  decided  to  elect  two  general 
superintendents,  a  ballot  was  taken.  Joshua  Soule  had  64 
votes,  William  Beauchamp  62,  Elijah  Hedding6i,  and  John 
Emory  59.  On  the  next  ballot  Soule,  having  65  votes,  was 
elected  by  one  majority  ;  Hedding  received  64,  Beauchamp 
62,  and  Emory  58.  Before  the  third  ballot  Emory  with- 
drew his  name,  Beauchamp  had  60  votes,  and  Hedding, 
having  66,  was  elected. 

Soule  had  demonstrated  himself  to  be  the  most  dominat- 
ing personality,  except  Asbury,  in  the  history  of  American 


360  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xv. 

Methodism.  Practically  "  the  father  of  the  constitution," 
he  declined  to  pledge  himself  to  comply  with  an  uncon- 
stitutional law,  resigned,  and  refused  to  withdraw  his 
resignation,  and  yet,  after  the  rancorous  discussion  of 
four  years,  was  the  first  elected.  He  was  a  native  of 
Maine,  and  was  now  in  his  forty-third  year;  he  joined  a 
Methodist  class  when  sixteen,  and  began  the  next  year 
to  travel  as  the  helper  of  an  itinerant.  Usually  spoken  of 
as  the  "boy  preacher,"  he  became  famous  as  a  polemic 
antagonist  of  Calvinism,  Unitarianism,  and  Universalism. 
He  was  a  close  student  and  a  discursive  reader  and,  until 
elected  book-publisher  and  editor  of  the  "  Methodist 
Magazine,"  had  been  for  several  years  presiding  elder. 
After  the  General  Conference  in  1820  he  was  stationed  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  where  he  remained  one  year,  and 
was  then  transferred  to  Baltimore,  representing  that  body 
in  the  Conference  of  1824. 

Elijah  Hedding  was  a  native  of  Dutchess  County,  New 
York,  but  was  reared  in  a  Vermont  town,  where  there  had 
been  no  public  religious  services  until  a  Methodist  family 
moved  to  the  place,  who  were  in  the  habit,  in  their  own 
house,  of  reading  Wesley's  sermons  to  such  a  congregation 
as  might  assemble.  Hedding,  being  a  good  reader,  was 
asked  to  perform  this  service,  though  he  made  no  profes- 
sion of  religion.  In  his  nineteenth  year  he  was  converted, 
and  in  his  twentieth  was  appointed  to  a  charge  vacated  by 
Lorenzo  Dow,  "  who  left  his  circuit,  imagining  that  God 
had  called  him  to  go  to  Ireland."  The  next  year  he  was 
admitted  to  the  New  York  Conference,  and  on  its  division 
in  1805  he  became  one  of  the  New  England  branch.  He 
was  presiding  elder  of  the  New  London  district  in  1809, 
sat  as  a  delegate  in  the  General  Conference  of  18 12,  and 
became  renowned  as  a  preaciier  and  as  a  progressive 
ecclesiastical   statesman.     Three  times  he  was  pastor  in 


"  ZION'S  HERALD"   FOUNDED.  36 1 

Boston,  and  under  his  inspiration  the  conference  appointed 
a  committee,  of  which  he  was  one,  to  consider  the  establish- 
ment of  a  weekly  religious  paper ;  and  during  the  next  year 
was  founded  "  Zion's  Herald,"  the  first  weekly  exclusively 
Methodist  publication  in  the  world.  The  first  copy 
measured  nine  by  sixteen  inches.  At  each  of  the  four 
terms  that  Hedding  had  been  delegate  to  the  General 
Conference  he  had  received  all  but  two  or  three  votes  of 
the  entire  number  cast.^ 

Beauchamp,  a  native  of  Delaware,  who  came  so  near  an 
election,  "  was  a  man  of  genuine  greatness,  one  of  nature's 
noblemen  and  God's  elect."  He  early  became  a  Christian, 
was  well  educated,  entered  the  ministry,  and  was  equally 
popular  as  a  preacher  in  Pittsburg,  New  York,  and  Boston. 
In  1 8 16  he  took  editorial  charge  of  the  "  Western  Christian 
Monitor,"  a  monthly  magazine,  the  only  one  then  published 
in  the  church.  He  was  the  author  of  a  book  of  essays  on 
"  The  Truth  of  the  Christian  Religion,"  was  known  as  "  the 
Demosthenes  of  the  West,"  and  would  undoubtedly  have 
been  chosen  bishop  had  he  not  spent  so  large  a  portion  of 
his  life  out  of  the  itinerancy." 

Bangs  was  reelected  general  book-steward,  with  Emory 
as  assistant,  and  Ruter  book-agent  at  Cincinnati. 

A  number  of  the  preachers  in  the  upper  province  of 
Canada  sent  a  petition  to  the  General  Conference  "  to  set 
them  off  as  an  independent  body,  with  the  privilege  of 
electing  a  bishop  to  reside  among  them."  The  resolution 
of  the  conference  authorized  the  formation  of  a  Canada 
Conference,  but  did  not  concede  all  that  was  asked. 

Many  memorials  were  presented  claiming  for  laymen 
the  right  to  representation,  but  it  was  deemed  inexpedient 
to  grant  their  petitions. 

1  "  Lives  of  the  Methodist  Bishops,"  p.  190. 

2  Stevens's  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  voL  iv.,  p.  30. 


362  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xv. 

The  missions  to  the  Indians  prospered  in  1824,  and 
Peter  Jones  a  half-breed,  English  on  his  father's  side  and 
of  the  tribe  of  Mississagua  on  his  mother's,  became  noted 
for  preaching  to  the  Indians  and  interpreting  for  the  mis- 
sionaries. 

The  first  college  organized  after  Cokesbury  was  destroyed 
was  located  at  Augusta,  Ky.,  and  was  named  Augusta  Col- 
lege. It  was  a  county  academy,  but  by  the  citizens  was 
tendered  to  the  Ohio  and  Kentucky  conferences  in  1822. 
J.  P.  Finley  was  principal,  and  in  1825  John  P.  Durbin 
was  appointed  professor  of  languages. 

The  Methodist  Book  Concern  in  New  York  began  the 
publication  of  "  The  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal  "  in 

1 826,  issuing  the  first  copy  on  the  9th  of  September.  "  The 
Missionary  Journal,"  published  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  pre- 
ceded it  for  a  year  or  two,  but  was  merged  in  it,  and  for 
a  time  the  paper  bore  the  title,  "  The  Christian  Advocate 
and  Journal."  In  August,  1828,  "  Zion's  Herald"  was 
consolidated  with  it,  and  for  some  years  it  was  known  as 
"  The  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal  and  Zion's  Herald." 
But  in  1830,  a  new  association  having  been  formed,  the 
publication  of  the  present  "  Zion's  Herald  "  was  begun, 
and  that  part  of  the  title  was  subsequently  dropped.  The 
first  editor  of  "  The  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal " 
was  a  layman  named  Barber  Badger. 

In  harmony  with  the  original  impulse  of  Methodism, 
much  interest  was  taken  in  education,  and  in  1824  an 
academy  was  established  at  Cazenovia,  N.  Y.  Maine 
Wesleyan  Seminary  at    Kent's   Hill   was  incorporated  in 

1827,  having  previously  received  a  gift  of  ten  thousand 
dollars  from  Luther  Samson. 

The  academy  at  New  Market,  N.  H.,  was  affiliated  in 
1826  with  the  Wesleyan  Academy,  founded  in  Wilbraham, 
Mass.  ;    and  Wilbur  Fisk,  who  had  been   graduated   with 


HERESY   TRIALS.  363 

honor  from  Brown  University  in  18 15,  studied  law,  but 
entered  the  Methodist  ministry  in  1818,  was  placed  in 
charge.  The  Pittsburg  Conference  founded  at  Uniontown, 
Pa.,  an  institution  named  Madison  College,  of  which 
Henry  B.  Bascom  was  made  president ;  but  it  was  of  short 
duration. 

The  Sunday-school  Union  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  was  established  in  1827.  Its  primary  purpose  was 
to  encourage  the  formation  of  schools  in  small  towns  and 
scattered  settlements,  and  to  furnish  them  books  suitable 
for  libraries,  and  communications  containing  instructions 
for  teachers. 

The  General  Conference  of  1828  met  in  Pittsburg.  Gar- 
rettson  was  elected  a  delegate,  but  before  the  assembling 
of  the  conference  died,  universally  beloved  and  honored 
both  in  church  and  state. 

Josiah  Randall,  of  the  New  England  Conference,  appealed 
from  a  decision  expelling  him  on  the  charge  of  disseminating 
doctrines  contrary  to  the  Articles  of  Religion.  He  was 
said  to  teach  that  no  atonement  was  made  by  Christ  for 
the  transgressions  of  the  law,  for  which  men  are  personally 
responsible,  and  that  God  may,  upon  the  condition  of  mere 
acts  of  the  transgressor,  relinquish  his  claims  and  the  trans- 
gressor be  pardoned  without  an  atonement.  He  made  his 
defense  in  person,  and  was  answered  by  Wilbur  Fisk. 
Randall  admitted  that  the  case  had  been  fairly  represented, 
and  retired  ;  the  decision  expelling  him  was  reaffirmed  by 
a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-four  to  one. 

It  was  reported  that  Soule  had  preached  a  sermon 
in  which  there  was  an  apparent  departure  from  several 
points  of  doctrine  held  by  the  church.  The  committee 
appointed  to  inquire  into  the  matter  reported  that  there 
was  "  nothing  in  the  sermon  of  Bishop  Soule  preached  be- 
fore the  South  Carolina  Conference  and  published  at  its 


364  ^'^^^'   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xv. 

request,  fairly  considered,  inconsistent  with  our  Articles 
of  Religion  as  illustrated  in  the  writings  of  Wesley  and 
Fletcher,"  and  the  report  was  adopted. 

William  S.  Stockton,  a  layman  of  the  Philadelphia  Con- 
ference, began,  early  in  1821,  the  publication,  at  Trenton, 
N.  J.,  of  the  "  Wesleyan  Repository."  It  was  continued 
for  three  years,  its  contributors  being  ministers  and  members 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  An  examination  of  the 
subject  of  church  polity  was  carried  on  in  several  successive 
numbers  by  Nicholas  Snethen,  one  of  the  strongest  of  the 
ministers  of  the  day,  a  friend  and,  at  one  time,  traveling 
companion  of  Bishop  Asbury.  As  the  circulation  of  the 
"  Repository  "  increased  and  its  utterances  became  more 
aggressive,  it  encountered  opposition,  and  gained  much 
patronage  on  account  of  an  announcement  in  the  "  Meth- 
odist Magazine"  of  September,  1823,  that  the  editors 
could  not  admit  to  the  pages  of  that  periodical  "  subjects 
of  controversy  which  act  to  disturb  the  peace  and  harmony 
of  the  church,"  and  advising  those  who  desired  changes  to 
address  petitions  to  the  General  Conference. 

A  circular  in  response  to  the  memorialists,  issued  by  the 
General  Conference  of  1824,  contained  this  sentence:  "If 
by  rights  and  privileges  it  is  intended  to  signify  something 
foreign  from  the  institutions  of  the  church  as  we  received 
them  from  our  fathers,  pardon  us  if  we  know  no  such  rights 
and  if  we  do  not  comprehend  such  privileges." 

While  that  conference  was  still  sitting  a  convention  of 
reformers  was  held  in  Baltimore,  attended  by  local  and 
itinerant  ministers — and  including,  as  was  affirmed,  seven- 
teen members  of  the  General  Conference — and  by  many 
laymen.  It  determined  to  establish  a  periodical  entitled 
"  The  Mutual  Rights  of  the  Ministers  and  Members  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  and  to  organize  Union 
Societies  in  different  parts  of  the  country.     The  forma- 


EXPULSIONS  AND    WITHDRAWALS.  365 

tion  of  these  and  the  wide  circulation  of  "  Mutual  Rights  " 
naturally  excited  opposition  from  the  representatives  of 
the  constituted  authorities.  Dennis  P.  Dorsey,  of  the  Bal- 
timore Conference,  after  being  left  for  a  year  without  an 
appointment,  was  excluded  from  the  church  for  refusing 
to  pledge  himself  to  desist  from  spreading  what  the  con- 
ference regarded  as  incendiar}-  publications.  William  C. 
Pool  received  the  same  punishment  for  circulating  "Mutual 
Rights  "  and  attending  Union  Meetings.  In  one  month 
eleven  local  preachers  and  twenty-two  laymen  were  ex- 
pelled in  Baltimore.  These  took  an  appeal  to  the  district 
conference.  Much  excitement  resulted,  and  the  wives  and 
friends  of  those  who  had  been  ejected,  in  all  fifty  women, 
withdrew  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

A  convention  of  reformers  assembled  in  Baltimore  in 
1827  and  prepared  a  memorial  to  the  next  General  Con- 
ference and  an  address  to  the  public. 

The  complication  of  Hedding  with  the  controversy 
diverted  attention  from  principles  to  persons.  He  had 
delivered  an  address  to  the  Pittsburg  Conference  on  the 
duty  of  Methodist  ministers  with  reference  to  current 
discussions  of  church  reform,  and  one  of  the  members  of 
that  body  reported  his  remarks  in  "  Mutual  Rights,"  and, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  bishop,  traduced  him ;  whereupon  he 
demanded  reparation  from  that  paper,  and,  the  response 
not  being  satisfactory,  he  laid  the  matter  before  the  Gen- 
eral Conference.  It  was  referred  to  a  committee,  before 
which  appeared  the  bishop,  the  writer  of  the  article,  and 
the  delegates  from  the  Pittsburg  Conference.  The  report 
adopted  by  the  conference  thus  exonerated  the  bishop : 
"  The  address  of  Bishop  Hedding,  as  recalled  by  himself 
and  the  delegates  of  the  Pittsburg  Conference,  not  only 
was  not  deserving  of  censure,  but  was  such  as  the  circum  - 
stances  of  the  case  rendered  it  his  official  duty  to  deliver." 


366  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xv. 

The  conference  was  obliged  to  consider  the  case  of 
Dennis  P.  Dorsey,  who,  when  tried  before  the  Baltimore 
Conference,  made  declarations  which  that  body  could  not 
approve.  The  judgment  pronounced  was  that  he  should 
be  reprimanded  by  the  bishop  and  left  for  one  year  with- 
out an  appointment.  He  appealed,  but,  in  public  speeches 
and  through  the  columns  of  "  Mutual  Rights,"  denounced 
the  action,  instead  of  waiting  in  silence  till  the  General 
Conference.  On  this  account  he  was  expelled  in  1828. 
He  now  presented  two  distinct  appeals :  first,  from  the 
action  reproving  and  suspending  him ;  and  second,  from 
the  decision  by  which  he  was  expelled.  His  plea  on  the 
first  issue  was  not  admitted,  but  the  second  was  discussed 
at  length.  Asa  Shinn,  a  pleader  of  unusual  power  in  state- 
ment, and  eloquent  withal,  argued  the  case  for  the  appel- 
lants.     Pool  also  had  appealed. 

The  delegation  of  the  Baltimore  Conference  responded 
to  Shinn's  statement  of  facts  and  argument,  and  Fisk  took 
part  in  the  debate,  speaking  at  great  length,  as  did  Emory. 
The  result  was  that  the  decisions  expelling  Dorsey  and 
Pool  were  reaffirmed ;  but  a  publication  was  made  by  the 
conference  of  the  grounds  of  its  action,  affirming  that  it 
could  not  justly  be  construed  as  denying  to  minister  or 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  any  liberty  of 
speech  or  of  the  press  consistent  with  moral  obligations  as 
Christians  and  the  associate  obligations  of  Methodists,  and 
affectionately  appealing  to  brethren  to  desist  from  patron- 
izing and  circulating  such  publications  as  the  "  Mutual 
Rights,"  and  proposing  that  no  further  prosecution  be  in- 
stituted against  any  minister  or  member  on  the  ground  of 
past  agency  in  the  matter,  and,  with  certain  quahfications, 
allowing  a  period  of  six  months  for  the  acceptance  of  the 
amnesty  or  the  conditions. 

Snethen,  who  had  located,  took  large  part  in  these  contro- 


THE  METHODIST  PROTESTANT  CHURCH.  367 

versies  prior  to  the  General  Conference  of  1828,  becoming 
the  most  aggressive  of  the  opponents  of  the  existing  order. 
To  meet  him  Thomas  E.  Bond,  a  local  preacher  and  practic- 
ing physician  of  Baltimore,  issued  an  appeal  to  the  Method- 
ists in  opposition  to  the  changes  proposed  in  their  church 
government,  his  book  being  dedicated  to  Snethen.  Alex- 
ander McCaine,  a  former  secretary  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence, published  a  work  called  "  History  and  Mystery  of 
Methodist  Episcopacy."  To  him  Emory  replied  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all  who  held  to  the  old  ways,  and  to  the  dis- 
gust of  those  who  had  committed  themselves  to  reform. 

The  expelled  members  and  their  sympathizers,  assem- 
bled in  Baltimore  in  November,  1827,  formed  a  society 
called  "  Associate  Methodist  Reformers,"  and  prepared  a 
memorial  to  the  approaching  General  Conference.  To  it 
the  conference  replied  in  a  report  prepared  by  John  Emory, 
designed  to  show  that  the  various  demands  of  the  reform- 
ers were  not  founded  on  natural  or  acquired  right,  and 
were  of  such  a  character  that  if  granted  they  would  under- 
mine the  practical  system  which  had  given  to  Methodism 
its  success.  The  report  charges  that  the  organization  of 
Union  Societies  was  the  source  of  the  principal  evils. 

The  reformers  were  most  numerous  in  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia, Baltimore,  Pittsburg,  and  Cincinnati.  They  ap- 
plied the  title  of  Old  Side  to  those  who  adhered  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Early  in  1828  charges  were 
brought  against  various  ministers  who  refused  to  receive 
the  overtures  of  the  General  Conference.  While  some  were 
expelled,  many  withdrew,  taking  with  them  classes  and 
leaders,  leaving  church  property  behind,  but  proceeding 
at  once  to  gather  funds  to  buy  and  build.  Two  local 
preachers  and  nine  laymen,  stewards,  elders,  and  exhorters, 
were  cut  oflf  before  the  close  of  the  year  in  Lynchburg,  Va. 
This  was  followed  by  a  large  secession.      Similar  difficul- 


368  THE  ME7'JIOJ)ISTS.  [Chai-.  x\  . 

ties  occurred  in  North  Carolina.  A  general  convention  of 
Methodist  reformers  assembled  in  Baltimore  in  November, 
and  soon  afterward  conferences  were  organized  in  differ- 
ent States,  so  far  as  possible  in  harmony  with  the  principles 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  except  in  the  points 
upon  which  the  reformers  had  taken  issue. 

An  association  was  formed  in  Pittsburg  including  a  large 
number  of  members.  After  many  such  combinations  had 
been  effected  a  general  convention  assembled  in  Baltimore, 
November  2,  1830,  to  frame  a  constitution  and  discipline, 
a  draft  having  been  previously  prepared  by  a  committee. 
It  was  adopted  after  amendment.  The  new  denomination 
was  styled  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church. 

The  point  of  controversy,  reduced  to  its  last  analysis,  was 
declared  by  the  reformers  to  be  a  pure  and  unmixed  ques- 
tion of  representation  of  the  laity  in  the  Annual  and 
General  Conferences.  Yet  it  was  complicated  with  other 
questions,  and  these  occupied  a  prominent  part  in  the 
diScussion.  The  reformers  were  strongly  opposed  to 
episcopacy,  and  the  book  issued  by  McCaine  was  well 
calculated  to  create  personal  feeling  that  could  not  be 
allayed.  They  were  also  opposed  to  the  presiding  elder- 
ship. 

One  of  the  most  distinguished  of  their  early  ministers, 
Truman  Bishop,  M.D.,  for  a  number  of  years  had  been 
a  superannuated  member  of  the  Ohio  Conference;  first 
locating,  he  withdrew  from  the  denomination.  He  ex- 
perienced much  mental  anxiety  on  account  of  his  re- 
lations to  the  church,  and  died  soon  after  he  took  this 
step.  Asa  Shinn  had  been  insane  for  nearly  a  year,  but 
upon  the  death  of  Bishop,  having  recovered,  went  to  Cincin- 
nati and  took  charge  of  the  church  which  had  enjoyed  the 
services  of  Bishop,  for  this  purpose  withdrawing  from  the 
Pittsburg  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


CANADIAN  METHODISM.  369 

He  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon  of  the  new  church, 
and  under  his  superintendence  the  society  prospered,  as 
did  the  whole  movement  everywhere.  In  four  years  the 
number  of  members  reported  from  the  fourteen  confer- 
ences was  26,587. 

Ahhough  the  territory  of  Canada  had  been  amicably 
divided  with  the  Wesleyan  connection,  leaving  Upper 
Canada  under  the  superintendence  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  the  troubles  in  that  country  continued. 
The  preachers,  having  chiefly  emigrated  from  the  United 
States,  were  denied  certain  privileges  enjoyed  by  natives 
and  by  ministers  from  England,  and  the  celebration  of 
matrimony  was  especially  embarrassed.  A  solemn  appeal 
therefore  was  made  by  the  Canada  Conference  to  the 
General  Conference  of  1828  for  release  from  responsi- 
ble connection  with  it;  this  was  referred  to  a  committee 
of  seven,  of  which  Bangs,  who  in  his  early  ministry  had 
endured  much  hardship  in  Canada,  was  appointed  chair- 
man. 

On  the  report  of  this  committee  the  conference  adopted 
a  plan  to  allow  Annual  Conferences  in  Upper  Canada  to 
elect  a  general  superintendent  for  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  that  province,  and  to  authorize  the  general 
superintendents  in  the  United  States  to  ordain  him ;  and 
by  another  resolution  it  provided  for  furnishing  the 
periodicals  published  by  the  Methodist  Book  Concern 
on  the  same  terms  as  were  allowed  to  Methodists  in  the 
United  States,  and  ordered  that  if  the  Canadian  Conference 
continued  to  patronize  the  Methodist  Book  Concern  they 
should  receive  an  equal  appropriation  of  any  annual  divi- 
dend which  might  be  made  by  the  Book  Concern  to  the 
several  Annual  Conferences  respectively. 

"When  the  subject  first  came  up  for  consideration," 
says  Bangs,  "  it  was  contended,  and  the  committee  to  whom 


370  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai-.  xv. 

it  was  first  referred  so  reported,  which  report  was  approved 
by  a  vote  of  the  General  Conference,  that  that  body  had 
no  constitutiofial  right  to  set  off  the  brethren  in  Canada  as 
an  independent  body,  because  the  terms  of  the  contract 
by  which  the  General  Conference  existed  made  obligatory 
on  it  as  a  delegated  body  to  preserve  the  union  entire,  and 
not  to  break  up  the  church  into  separate  fragments." 

Emory,  however,  proposed  a  way  out  of  the  difficulty 
based  upon  the  assumption  that  the  preachers  who  went 
to  Canada  from  the  United  States  did  so  in  the  first  instance 
as  missionaries,  and  that  ever  afterward,  when  additional 
help  was  needed,  Asbury  and  his  successors  asked  for 
volunteers,  not  claiming  the  right  to  send  them  in  the 
same  authoritative  manner  in  which  they  were  appointed 
to  the  different  parts  of  the  United  States.  From  this 
Emory  deduced  the  doctrine  that  it  was  perfectly  com- 
patible with  the  powers  of  the  delegated  General  Con- 
ference, thus  connected  by  a  voluntary  or  conditional 
contract  either  expressed  or  implied,  to  dissolve  the  con- 
nection. Bangs  states  that  the  agreement  was  based 
wholly  on  this  principle.^  It  was  stipulated  that  any 
bishop  ordained  for  Canada  under  the  agreement  should 
not  be  allowed  to  exercise  episcopal  functions  in  the 
United  States. 

The  conference  was  flooded  with  memorials  concern- 
ing speculative  freemasonry.  These  were  referred  to  a 
special  committee,  but  the  conference  wisely  refused  to 
make  a  deliverance  upon  a  subject  of  which  it  could  not 
acquire  sufficient  knowledge  to  test  the  nature  and  tendency 
of  the  organization,  and  whose  members  it  could  not  con- 
demn so  long  as  they  comported  themselves  in  harmony 
with  the  rules  of  the  church. 

There  were  also  many  petitions  concerning  ardent  spirits. 

1  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  vol.  iii.,  pp.  390-392. 


LARGE  NUMERICAL   INCREASE.  371 

On  motion  of  Wilbur  Fisk  a  very  moderate  resolution  was 
passed  : 

"  Whereas,  The  rules  and  examples  of  the  Wesleyan 
Methodists  from  the  commencement  of  their  existence  as  a 
people,  both  in  Europe  and  America,  were  calculated  to 
suppress  intemperance  and  to  discountenance  the  needless 
use  of  ardent  spirits ;  and 

"  Whereas,  The  public  mind  in  our  country  for  a  few 
years  past  has  been  remarkably  awakened  to  a  sense  of 
the  importance  of  this  subject ;  therefore 

"Resolved,  i.  That  we  rejoice  in  all  the  laudable  and 
proper  efforts  now  making  to  promote  this  just  object,  so 
important  to  the  interest  both  of  church  and  nation. 

"  Resolved,  2.  That  all  our  preachers  and  people  be  ex- 
pected, and  they  are  hereby  expected,  to  adhere  to  their 
first  principles  as  contained  in  their  excellent  rules  on  this 
subject,  and  as  practiced  by  our  fathers,  and  to  do  all  they 
prudently  can,  both  by  precept  and  example,  to  suppress 
intemperance  throughout  the  land. 

"Resolved,  3.  That,  to  bring  about  the  reformation  de- 
sired on  this  subject,  it  is  important  that  we  neither  drink 
ourselves  (except  medicinally)  nor  give  it  to  visitors  or 
workmen." 

Wilbur  Fisk  and  William  Capers  were  elected  fraternal 
delegates  to  the  British  Conference. 

When  the  General  Conference  of  1832  assembled  in 
Philadelphia,  its  members  deplored  the  absence  of  Bishop 
George,  who  had  closed  his  laborious  and  exemplary  life 
September  23,   1828. 

Great  was  the  rejoicing  over  the  denominational  returns. 
In  the  four  years  preceding  the  close  of  1831  there  had 
been  an  addition  of  131,117  members  and  434  ministers; 
giving  a  total  of  513,1 14  members  and  2010  ministers. 

An  important  change  was  made  in  the  sixth  restrictive 


372  THE  METIIODISl'S.  [Chap.  xv. 

rule,  SO  as  to  make  it  possible,  upon  the  concurrent  rec- 
ommendation of  three  quarters  of  the  members  of  the 
Annual  Conferences  present  and  voting,  for  a  majority  of 
two  thirds  of  the  next  General  Conference  to  alter  any  of 
the  restrictive  rules  except  the  first.  It  was  also  provided 
that  when  two  thirds  of  a  General  Conference  shall  have 
recommended  the  same,  and  three  quarters  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  ensuing  Annual  Conferences  present  and  voting 
shall  concur,  such  alterations  shall  take  effect. 

James  Osgood  Andrew  of  the  Georgia,  and  John  Emory 
of  the  Baltimore,  Conference,  were  elected  bishops,  223 
ballots  being  cast,  each  bearing  two  names ;  Andrew  had 
140  and  Emory  135  votes.  Andrew  was  the  son  of  a 
Methodist  preacher,  and  was  born  in  1 794 ;  he  entered  the 
South  Carohna  Conference  at  eighteen,  and  though  having 
little  education  when  he  began  to  preach,  his  improvement 
was  constant ;  he  was  equally  ingratiating  in  private  and  in 
public,  and,  while  eloquent  on  all  occasions,  such  was  his 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  missions  that  in  speaking  upon 
that  theme  he  seemed  to  surpass  all  previous  efforts.  "  In 
the  heated  strife  of  1820  and  1824  he  had  so  borne  himself 
as  not  to  incur  the  enmity  of  the  progressives."  ^ 

William  Capers  was  probably  the  most  popular  preacher 
in  the  South.  At  a  meeting  of  delegates  to  consider  can- 
didates, he  was  asked  to  allow  his  name  to  be  presented 
for  the  office  of  bishop,  but  he  declined,  stating  that  he 
was  "  unwillingly  a  slave-holder,  and  that  he  did  not  wish 
to  be  brought  into  antagonism  as  a  candidate  with  Andrew, 
whom  he  suggested  as  suitable  for  the  office."  Andrew 
was  not  a  slave-holder,  neither  was  his  father;  therefore 
there  appeared  no  danger  that  he  would  inherit  sla\'es. 
This  statement  greatly  contributed  to  the  large  vote  which 
Andrew  received. 

1  Smith's  "  Life  and  Letters  of  J.  O.  Andrew,"  p.  230. 


ELECTION  OF  ANDREW  AND  EMORY.  373 

Emory  was  a  native  of  Maryland,  the  son  of  a  man  noted 
for  industry,  honesty,  and  decision  of  character  and  for 
usefulness  as  a  class-leader.  His  mother  was  reared  in 
the  English  church,  but  shortly  before  her  marriage  had 
become  a  Methodist.  Emory's  father,  having  occupied 
various  judiciary  positions,  designed  his  son  for  the  pro- 
fession of  law.  His  progress  was  so  rapid  that  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  his  nineteenth  year.  Against  the  wish 
of  his  father  he  yielded  to  a  call  to  preach,  which  so  bit- 
terly disappointed  the  former  that  years  elapsed  before  he 
became  sufficiently  reconciled  to  consent  to  hear  his  son 
preach,  and  did  not  express  himself  as  fully  conciliated 
until   he  approached  death. 

Emory  was  elected  to  the  first  General  Conference  to 
which  he  was  eligible,  that  of  18 16.  He  was  correspond- 
ing secretary  of  the  newly  formed  Missionary  Societ)^,  and 
was  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  of  1820. 
That  body  having  directed  that  a  delegate  be  sent  to  the 
British  Conference  to  settle  difficulties  rising  out  of  the 
Canada  question,  the  bishops  selected  Emory.  His  subse- 
quent career  increased  the  respect  in  which  he  was  held. 
On  account  of  his  advocacy  of  the  election  of  presiding 
elders  he  was  not  returned  to  the  General  Conference  of 
1824,  but  notwithstanding  this  he  was  appointed  its  secre- 
tary, and  had  he  received  six  votes  additional  to  those 
given  him  would  have  been  elected  bishop.  He  was 
made  assistant  book-agent  in  1828,  in  which  office,  as 
everywhere,  he  was  successful.  His  services  in  the  con- 
troversy which  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  Methodist 
Protestant  Church  and  his  election  to  the  episcopacy  gave 
general  satisfaction. 

Having  failed  to  secure  from  the  preceding  conference 
a  condemnation  of  freemasonry,  the  petitioners  now  asked 
for  decided  action  on  secret  societies,  but  the  committee 


374  ^^^  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xv. 

to  whom  the  memorials  were  referred  declined  to  act,  on 
the  ground  that  "  the  very  attempt  might  involve  serious 
difficulties." 

John  P.  Durbin  was  elected  editor  of  the  "  Christian 
Advocate  and  Journal  and  Zion's  Herald,"  the  "  Youth's 
Instructor,"  the  "  Child's  Magazine,"  tracts  and  Sunday- 
school  books.  The  "  Methodist  Magazine  "  was  transformed 
into  the  "  Quarterly  Review  "  in  1830,  and  the  book-agent, 
Emory,  edited  it  until  this  conference,  when  Nathan  Bangs 
succeeded  him. 

At  the  General  Conference  Rev.  Melville  B.  Cox  volun- 
teered to  go  as  missionary  to  Liberia,  and  was  gladly  ac- 
cepted by  the  bishops.  He  arrived  in  Liberia  on  the  8th  of 
March,  1833,  and  was  cordially  received  by  Acting  Governor 
Williams,  a  local  preacher  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Chu  rch. 
He  held  a  camp-meeting  on  the  next  day,  and  on  the  6th 
of  April  opened  a  Sunday-school ;  on  the  9th  the  Metho- 
dists in  Liberia,  consisting  of  emigrants  to  that  colony  from 
the  United  States,  signed  articles  of  agreement  resigning 
the  superintendency  of  all  the  churches  in  that  country, 
adopting  the  Articles  of  Religion,  General  Rules,  and  moral 
discipline  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  acknowledging  the  authority  of  the 
General  Conference,  and  requesting  the  ordination  of 
Williams,  who  had  been  duly  recommended,  as  deacon  and 
elder. 

Three  days  later  Cox  was  attacked  by  the  dreaded 
African  fever,  and  when  supposed  to  have  recovered,  re- 
lapsed, lingering  until  the  2ist  of  July,  when  he  died. 
Just  before  sailing  for  Liberia  he  was  asked  what  he  would 
like  inscribed  upon  his  tombstone  should  he  die  in  Africa. 
He  responded,  "  Let  thousands  fall  before  Africa  be  given 
up."  Although  the  denomination  was  greatly  depressed 
by  his  death,  its  missionary  fervor  was  increased. 


SEMINARIES  AND   COLLEGES.  375 

Wesleyan  University  is  the  oldest  institution  of  the  high- 
est grade  founded  b)^  American  Methodism.  Certain  build- 
ings erected  for  a  military  academy  in  1825  at  Middletown, 
Conn.,  were  transferred  to  the  trustees  in  1830,  at  which 
date  a  preparatory  school  was  opened.  The  university 
proper,  having  been  chartered  in  1831,  received  students 
in  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  under  the  presidency  of  Wil- 
bur Fisk.  The  condition  on  which  the  property  had  been 
transferred  was  that  the  church  should  furnish  an  endow- 
ment of  forty  thousand  dollars.  The  New  York  and  New 
England  conferences  accepted  the  proposition  and  raised 
the  amount.  The  Genesee  Conference  Seminary  at  Lima, 
N.  Y.,  was  also  established  in  1831. 

The  Virginia  Conference  founded  Randolph  Macon 
College  in  1832;  and  the  next  year  Dickinson  College,  at 
Carlisle,  Pa.,  established  fifty  years  before,  was  transferred 
to  the  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia  conferences  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  and  John  P.  Durbin  was  called  to 
the  presidency.  It  was  opened  for  students  in  1834,  forty- 
five  thousand  dollars  in  donations  and  subscriptions  having 
been  received. 

Allegheny  College,  at  Meadville,  Pa.,  an  institution 
which  was  chartered  in  181 5  but  which  had  become  mori- 
bund from  lack  of  support,  was  resuscitated  in  1834,  and  its 
grounds  and  buildings  given  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  and  adopted  by  the  Pittsburg  and  Erie  conferences. 
Martin  Ruter  was  the  first  president.  The  Vermont  Metho- 
dist Seminary  and  Female  College  was  established  in  1834, 
and  such  was  the  interest  in  education  that  at  the  close  of 
that  year  there  were  twenty  academies  under  the  patron- 
age of  the  denomination,  and,  besides  the  colleges  already 
founded,  the  Illinois  Conference  founded  on  the  20th  of 
February,  1828,  a  seminary  at  Lebanon,  111.,  twenty-four 
miles  e?st  of  St.  Louis.    The  first  resolution  concerning  it 


376  I'il^  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xv. 

was  moved  by  Peter  Cartwright.  It  opened  that  year 
under  the  name  of  Lebanon  Seminary,  Edward  R.  Ames, 
principal.  It  rehed  for  support  upon  the  whole  territory 
west  of  the  State  of  Ohio  and  north  of  the  Ohio  River. 
Bishop  McKendree,  in  1830,  made  a  gift  to  the  institution 
of  four  hundred  and  eighty  acres  of  land,  and  its  name  was 
then  changed  from  Lebanon  Seminary  to  McKendree  Col- 
lege, though  its  charter  as  a  collegiate  institution  was  not 
given  until  1834.  Soon  after  this  Peter  Akers  was  elected 
president. 

The  General  Conference  of  1832  authorized  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  "  Western  Christian  Advocate  "  at  Cincin- 
nati, Thomas  A.  Morris  being  appointed  editor.  The 
Pittsburg  "Christian  Advocate"  was  established  in  1833 
by  the  Pittsburg  Conference,  with  Charles  Elliott  as  editor. 

Additional  missionaries  were  sent  to  Liberia  in  1834. 
Within  four  months  the  wife  of  one  of  the  missionaries 
died,  and  soon  afterward  her  husband  ;  in  less  than  a  year 
eight  missionaries  from  this  country  had  died,  several  of 
whom  were  Presbyterians,  and  one  an  Episcopalian.  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Williams  visited  the  United  States  dur- 
ing this  year,  and  was  ordained  deacon  and  elder  by  Bishop 
Hedding.  The  Rev.  John  Seys  was  appointed  superin- 
tendent of  the  mission,  ai\d  arrived  in  Africa  on  the  i8th 
of  October,  accompanied  by  Francis  Burns,  a  young  col- 
ored preacher.  Liberia  now  seemed  destined  to  a  career 
of  prosperity.^ 

Missions  to  the  Flathead  Indians  were  established,  and 
the  brothers  Jason  and  Daniel  Lee  and  their  colleagues 
began  work  in  Oregon. 

Bishop  McKendree  died  at  Na.shville,  Tenn.,  on  the  5th 
of  March,   1835.      ^^  is  worthy  of  being  ranked  next  to 

1  J.  M.  Reiil's  "  Missions  and  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Churcli,"  vol.  i.,  p.  142. 


TRAGIC  EVENTS. 


m 


Asbury  in  helpfulness  to  early  Methodism.  He  had  long 
been  in  failing  health,  and  the  church  received  the  intelli- 
gence of  his  death  with  sadness,  but  without  surprise. 

Bishop  Emory,  on  the  1 6th  of  December  in  the  same  year, 
started  from  his  home  in  a  light  carriage  to  go  to  Baltimore. 
Shortly  afterward  he  was  found  by  the  roadside  about  two 
miles  from  his  home  insensible,  with  a  fractured  skull.  He 
remained  unconscious  until  his  death  in  the  evening.  It 
was  supposed  that  he  was  thrown  out  while  descending  a 
hill.  In  temperament,  ability,  and  accomplishments  he 
differed  from  all  his  episcopal  colleagues  and  predecessors ; 
he  resembled  Wesley  in  system,  administrative  ability,  and 
mental  clearness;  and  in  general  information  and  scholar- 
ship he  was  far  superior  to  any  Methodist  of  his  time  ex- 
cept Wilbur  Fisk.  His  tragical  end  gave  the  church  a 
severe  shock,  and  for  years  the  mention  of  his  name  in  a 
public  congregation  elicited  manifestations  of  sorrow. 

The  buildings  of  the  Book  Concern  with  the  entire  stock 
were  destroyed  by  fire  on  the  i8th  of  February,  1836. 
The  loss  was  estimated  at  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars.  A 
collection  was  made  amounting  to  more  than  eighty-eight 
thousand  dollars,  which,  added  to  the  insurance  and  the 
value  of  the  ground,  aggregated  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
two  thousand  dollars.  With  this  were  procured  buildings 
far  better  than  the  former,  and  machinery  of  the  most  im- 
proved type. 

The  General  Conference  of  1832  recommended  the 
bishops  and  the  Missionary  Society  to  establish  missions  in 
South  America,  and  advised  the  appointment  of  a  suitable 
person  to  travel  there  and  report  upon  the  condition  and 
needs  of  the  people.  Soon  afterward  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  who  had  settled  in  Buenos 
Ayres  and  succeeded  in  forming  a  small  class  petitioned 
for  a  missionary.     In  July,  1835,  the  bishops  directed  the 


378  THE  METHOD  IS  [Chap.  x\. 

Rev.  Fountain  E.  Pitts,  of  the  Tennessee  Conference,  to  make 
the  tour.  He  visited  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Montevideo,  Buenos 
Ayres,  and  other  places,  and  after  forming  several  societies 
returned  to  this  country.^  On  invitation  of  the  General 
Conference  Pitts  reported  in  person  the  results  of  this  tour. 

The  General  Conference  of  1836  convened  in  Cincinnati, 
Roberts,  Soule,  Hedding,  and  Andrew  being  present.  Wil- 
liam Lord,  delegate  from  the  Wesleyan  connection,  and 
William  Case,  delegate  from  the  Wesleyan  Methodist 
Church  in  Upper  Canada,  addressed  the  conference.  The 
address  sent  by  the  British  Conference  took  strong  anti- 
slavery  ground  and  stirred  opposition.  Bangs,  Capers,  and 
Morris  were  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  a  reply.  An 
abolition  meeting  was  held  in  Cincinnati  on  Tuesday,  May 
loth,  and  George  Storrs  of  New  Hamphire  and  Samuel 
Norris  from  Maine,  delegates  to  the  General  Conference, 
delivered  addresses.  Two  days  later  resolutions  were  in- 
troduced which  provoked  debate,  in  which  Orange  Scott,  of 
the  New  England  Conference,  took  the  most  uncompro- 
mising abolition  grounds.     As  finally  adopted  they  were : 

"  Resolved  by  the  delegates.  That  they  disapprove  in 
the  most  unqualified  sense  the  conduct  of  the  two  members 
of  the  General  Conference  who  are  reported  to  have  lec- 
tured in  this  city,  Cincinnati,  recently  upon,  and  in  favor 
of,  modern  abolitionism. 

"  Second,  That  they  are  decidedly  opposed  to  modern 
abolitionism,  and  wholly  disclaim  any  right,  wish,  or  in- 
tention to  interfere  with  the  civil  and  political  relation 
between  master  and  slave  as  it  exists  in  the  slave-holding 
States  of  this  Union. 

"Third,  That  the  foregoing  preamble  and  resolutions  be 
published  in  our  periodicals." 

1  J.  M.  Reid's  "  Missions  and  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal C'luirch,"  vol.  i.,  p.  232. 


ELECTION  OF   THREE  BISHOPS.  379 

For  these  resolutions  one  hundred  and  twenty  votes 
were  cast,  and  the  largest  number  cast  against  them  at 
any  stage  was  fourteen. 

On  the  general  subject  of  slavery  the  conference  resolved 
that  "  it  is  inexpedient  to  make  any  change  in  our  book 
of  Discipline  respecting  slavery,  and  that  we  deem  it  im- 
proper, therefore,  to  agitate  the  subject  in  the  General 
Conference  at  present." 

Three  bishops  were  chosen,  Beverly  Waugh,  Wilbur 
Fisk,  and  Thomas  A.  Morris.  Waugh  was  a  Virginian, 
forty-seven  years  of  age.  He  entered  the  Baltimore  Con- 
ference in  his  twentieth  year,  and,  having  been  successful 
as  pastor  and  presiding  elder,  in  1828  he  was  made  as- 
sistant editor  and  book-agent,  and  in  1832,  when  Emory 
became  bishop,  though  not  a  delegate  to  the  conference, 
was  elected  senior  book-agent. 

When  chosen  bishop,  Fisk  was  in  England  as  delegate 
to  the  British  Conference. 

Thomas  A.  Morris  was  forty-two  years  of  age,  had  served 
twenty  years  as  pastor  and  presiding  elder,  and  during  four 
years  preceding  his  election  to  the  episcopacy  had  been 
editor  of  the  **  Western  Christian  Advocate."  He  was  a 
Virginian,  served  in  the  militia  six  months  in  a  war  with 
the  British  and  Indians,  decided  upon  the  legal  profession, 
became  a  skeptic  in  religion,  but  was  reclaimed  therefrom 
and  converted.  He  inclined  to  join  the  Baptist  Church,  of 
which  his  parents  were  members,  but  after  a  period  of 
hesitation  and  debate  became  a  Methodist.  As  a  preacher 
he  was  unpretentious  in  manner,  but  noted  for  common 
sense  and  a  mastery  of  Anglo-Saxon. 

Charles  Elliott  was  elected  editor  of  the  "  Western 
Christian  Advocate,"  Nathan  Bangs  corresponding  secre- 
tary of  the  Missionary  Society,  Samuel  Luckey  editor  of 
the  "Christian  Advocate  and  Journal"  and  "Quarterly 


380  THE  METHODISTS.  [CiiAi'.  xv. 

Review,"  with  John  A.  CoHins  as  assistant.  Official  "  Ad- 
vocates "  were  estabhshed  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  Richmond, 
Va.,  Nashville,  Tenn. 

The  conference  decided  that  an  Annual  Conference 
might  locate  members  without  their  consent,  and  that  the 
Discipline  did  not  allow  them  an  appeal.  To  establish  a 
uniform  proceeding  in  such  cases  a  form  of  trial  was  en- 
acted. 

Fisk,  on  his  return  from  Europe,  declined  the  office  of 
bishop,  assigning  the  state  of  his  health,  and  his  belief  that 
he  could  accomplish  more  for  the  church  as  president  of 
Wesleyan  University  than  was  possible  in  any  other  position. 

Justin  Spaulding,  of  the  New  England  Conference,  sailed 
for  Rio  Janeiro,  Brazil,  on  the  22d  of  March,  1836,  being 
sent  out  by  appointment  of  the  bishop.  He  had  the  mis- 
sionary spirit,  and  had  previously  offered  himself  for  Oregon. 
John  Dempster  sailed  for  Buenos  Ayres  in  October  of  the 
same  year.  Spaulding  preached  to  the  English  and 
American  portion  of  the  population,  but  distributed  the 
Scriptures  in  the  Portuguese  language,  with  which  the 
American  Bible  Society  gratuitously  furnished  him.  His 
reports  were  so  favorable  that  Daniel  P.  Kidder,  accom- 
panied by  two  teachers,  went  on  November  12,  1837,  to 
reinforce  him.  Kidder  speedily  mastered  the  Portuguese 
language,  and  did  much  good,  although  the  laws  of  the 
country  would  not  allow  him  to  preach  to  the  natives  in 
their  own  tongue.  Dempster  had  succeeded  so  well  that 
in  less  than  a  year  the  people  subscribed  fifteen  hundred 
dollars  toward  a  church,  and  the  Missionary  Society 
appropriated  ten  thousand  dollars  to  meet  the  additional 
expense  necessary  for  its  erection. 

Missions  were  established  in  Texas  in  1837.  Martin 
Ruter  resigned  his  presidency  of  Allegheny  College  and, 
accompanied  by  two  preachers,  entered  upon  his  work  as 


METHODISM  PLANTED   IN   TEXAS.  38 1 

missionary.  Texas  had  been  visited  as  early  as  18 19  by 
Methodist  preachers,  the  most  conspicuous  of  whom  was 
William  Stevenson.  John  B.  Denton  and  E.  B.  Duncan 
were  appointed  to  the  Sulphur  Forks  circuit  in  1835. 
Denton,  taught  by  his  wife,  learned  his  letters  at  night  by 
the  light  of  blazing  pine-knots.  A  historian  of  Methodism 
in  Texas  says  that  the  people  of  Virginia  were  not  more 
surprised  at  the  eloquence  of  Patrick  Henry  in  the  Tithe 
suit  than  were  the  Arkansans  by  the  oratorical  powers  of 
this  unlettered  frontiersman.  He  soon  gave  up  preaching 
in  order  better  to  support  his  family,  and  became  a  lawyer ; 
but  as  he  prospered  and  paid  off  his  debts  he  determined 
to  reenter  the  itinerancy,  which  he  did,  and  crossed  into 
Texas  in  company  with  Littleton  Fowler.  An  Indian  raid 
prevented  the  camp-meeting  from  being  held.  A  company 
of  citizens  collected  to  pursue  the  savages.  Denton,  the 
natural  leader,  was  riding  in  advance  when  an  Indian  rose  in 
a  thicket  and  fired  at  him,  and  he  fell,  mortally  wounded.^ 

Rutersoon  preached  before  the  Texas  congress,  consulted 
with  leading  men,  laid  plans  to  establish  a  college,  and  trav- 
eled day  and  night.  He  collected  the  names  of  three  hun- 
dred persons  who  had  been  Methodists  before  coming  to 
Texas,  and  decided  that  he  needed  twelve  additional  mis- 
sionaries ;  but  his  exposures  and  labors  proved  too  severe, 
and  he  died  May  16,  1838. 

Abel  Stevens  arrived  in  Texas  in  1839,  with  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Hoss,  agent  of  the  American  Bible  Society.  Stevens 
remained  several  months  and  preached  with  great  accept- 
ability, and  then  "  returned  to  the  North  to  become  the 
historian  of  Methodism." 

William  Nast,  a  native  of  Stuttgart,  Germany,  born  in 
'  1807,  who  had  studied  theology  and  philosophy,  came  to 

1  H.  S.  Thrall's  '  History  of  Methodism  in  Texas  *  (Houston,  Tex., 
1872). 


382  THE  METIIODISTS.  [CiiAr.  xv. 

the  United  States  at  the  age  of  twenty-one.  He  supported 
himself  for  a  time  ^s  a  private  teacher,  and  later  taught 
German  at  West  Point.  He  was  then  a  rationalist,  but  be- 
came interested  in  Law's  "  Call  to  the  Unconverted  "  and 
Taylor's  "  Holy  Living,"  adopted  Methodist  views,  and, 
after  acting  as  professor  of  modern  languages  at  Gett}-sburg 
Lutheran  Seminary,  was  chosen  professor  of  Greek  and  He- 
brew at  Kenyon  College,  Ohio.  He  was  received  on  trial 
in  the  Ohio  Conference,  and  appointed  German  missionary 
to  Cincinnati  in  1835.  The  next  year  the  German  missions 
were  organized  by  the  Missionary  Society.  In  January, 
1839,  the  Western  Book  Concern  issued  "  Der  christliche 
Apologete,"  with  Nast  as  editor. 

Emory  College,  in  Georgia,  was  chartered  early  in  1837. 

The  first  centenary  of  Methodism  was  celebrated  in 
1839.  The  day  fixed  was  the  21st  of  October,  which  com- 
memorated the  forming  of  the  first  Methodist  class.  Ser- 
mons, however,  were  delivered  on  the  previous  day  pre- 
paratory to  collections  for  missions,  education,  and  for  the 
superannuated  preachers.  About  one  half  was  to  be  de- 
voted to  the  needy  ministers,  one  fifth  to  the  support  of 
missions,  and  the  remainder  to  education.  The  amount 
subscribed  was  not  far  from  six  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
and  the  celebration  exerted  a  highly  beneficial  influence 
upon  all  the  interests  of  Methodism. 

The  Indiana  Asbury  University,  founded  by  the  Indiana 
Conference,  which  at  that  time  included  the  State,  had 
been  opened  in  1836  as  a  preparatory  school,  but  was  fully 
organized  in  1838  as  a  university,  and  Matthew  Simpson, 
A.M.,  its  first  president,  entered  upon  his  duties  in  April, 
1839.' 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1840,  which  met  in  Bal- 

1  Professor  George  L.  Curtiss's  "  Manual  of  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
History"  (Hunt  &  Eaton). 


GENERAL    CONEERENCE    OF  IS40.  383 

timore,  a  profound  impression  was  made  by  the  personal 
communications  and  public  addresses  of  Robert  Newton, 
fraternal  delegate  from  the  British  Conference,  and  great 
interest  elicited  by  the  presence  of  Joseph  Stinson,  repre- 
sentative from  the  Canada  Conference,  accompanied  by 
four  members  of  that  body. 

The  address  of  the  bishops  displayed  statesmanlike  abil- 
ity in  the  discussion  of  church  government  and  the  insti- 
tutions and  enterprises  of  Methodism.  It  may  be  doubted 
if  an  abler  document  was  ever  presented  to  an  ecclesiastical 
body. 

The  conference  decided  two  grave  principles  of  admin- 
istration :  First,  that  it  is  the  prerogative  of  the  bishop  to 
decide  questions  of  law  in  an  Annual,  subject  to  an  appeal 
to  the  General,  Conference ;  but  the  application  of  the  law 
is  with  the  former.  Second,  that  it  belongs  to  the  presi- 
dent of  a  Quarterly  Meeting  to  decide  questions  of  law  in 
the  Quarterly  Conference,  subject  to  an  appeal  to  the  pres- 
ident of  the  next  Annual  Conference ;  but  the  application 
of  the  law  shall  be  with  the  former.  The  conference  also 
decided  that  the  president  of  an  Annual  or  a  Quarterly 
Conference  had  the  right  to  decline  putting  a  motion  or 
resolution  to  vote  if  he  considered  it  foreign  to  the  proper 
business  or  inconsistent  with  constitutional  provisions,  and 
also  to  adjourn  a  conference  without  a  formal  vote.^ 

An  attempt  had  been  made  to  substitute  Wesley's  rule 
on  temperance  for  the  one  in  the  Discipline.  Two  thou- 
sand and  eighty  ministers  were  present  in  the  Annual 
Conference  and  voted  on  the  resolution  authorizing  the 
General  Conference  to  make  the  change,  and  all  but  three 
hundred  and  six  voted  in  the  affirmative ;  but  the  commit- 
tee of  the  General  Conference  to  which  the  subject  was 
submitted  reported  against  the  change,  interpreting  the  law 

1  Bangs,  vol.  iv.,  p.  396. 


384  ^■^^^'  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xv. 

to  mean  that  three  quarters  of  the  members  in  every  An- 
nual Conference  must  be  in  favor  of  the  contemplated 
measure  before  it  could  be  lawfully  carried  into  effect. 

The  Sunday-school  Union  was  organized  according  to 
the  principles  of  a  new  constitution.  The  American  Colo- 
nization Society  was  almost  unanimously  approved  and 
commended  to  the  patronage  of  Methodists. 

The  pastoral  address  to  the  church  deplored  the  de- 
cline of  attendance  on  class- meetings,  especially  con- 
demned novels,  and  exhorted  parents  to  dedicate  their 
infant  offspring  to  God  in  holy  baptism. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

THE    "  IRREPRESSIBLE    CONFLICT." 

From  its  foundation  in  the  United  States  until  the 
year  1800  Methodism  had  testified  against  slavery  as  a 
moral  evil.  Many  of  its  enactments  were  uncompromising, 
and  all  were  beyond  the  position  taken  by  other  churches 
and  in  advance  of  public  sentiment ;  although  very  soon 
after  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  organized  con- 
cessions began  to  be  made  in  view  of  the  necessities  of  the 
South. 

The  tone  of  condemnation  was  softened  in  1804,  and  "  in 
1808  all  that  relates  to  slave-holding  among  private  mem- 
bers was  stricken  out,  and  no  rule  on  the  subject  has  ex- 
isted since."  ^ 

The  New  England  Antislavery  Society  was  organized 
in  1832  ;  the  American  in  1833.  At  a  convention  in  Phila- 
delphia there  were  sixty-three  abolitionists  from  eleven 
States  of  the  Union  ;  among  them  William  Lloyd  Garrison 
and  John  G.  Whittier.  They  lectured  and  distributed 
tracts,  until  in  the  year  1835  they  were  able  to  expend 
thirty-five  thousand  dollars,  issue  a  million  publications, 
organize  five  hundred  auxiliary  societies,  and  keep  fourteen 
lecture  agents  employed. 

The  Ohio  Conference  in  that  year  passed  a  resolution 

1  Dr.  Durbin,  debates  of  1844.     "Journal  of  General  Conference,"  vol. 
ii.,  p.  174. 

38s 


386  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvi. 

against  abolition  and  antislavery  societies.  The  Baltimore 
Conference,  in  1836,  declared  itself  convinced  of  the  great 
evil  of  slavery,  but  opposed  in  every  part  and  particular 
to  the  proceedings  of  the  abolitionists.  The  Philadelphia, 
Pittsburg,  and  Michigan  conferences  of  1838  passed 
similar  resolutions,  declaring  it  incompatible  with  the 
duties  and  obligations  of  Methodist  preachers  to  deliver 
abolition  lectures,  promote  meetings  in  the  interest  of  that 
movement,  attend  its  conventions,  or  circulate  its  publica- 
tions. 

The  first  Methodist  abolition  society  was  formed  in  New 
York  City  in  1833.  La  Roy  Sunderland  presided,  and 
Bishop  Hedding  was  chosen  permanent  president,  but  de- 
clined to  serve.  The  New  England  Conference,  sitting  at 
Lynn  in  1835,  organized  a  society,  advocating  the  imme- 
diate and  unconditional  abolition  of  slavery,  and  the  Eng- 
lish abolitionist,  George  Thompson,  was  invited  to  preach 
to  them.  The  same  year  the  New  Hampshire  Confer- 
ence formed  a  similar  organization.  "Zion's  Herald"  was 
opened  to  articles  in  favor  of  abolition,  and  published  an 
appeal  to  the  members  of  the  New  England  and  New  Hamp- 
shire conferences,  written  by  Sunderland,  and  signed  by 
him  and  several  prominent  ministers.  It  was  answered  in 
the  same  paper  by  a  counter-appeal  written  by  D.  D.  Whe- 
don,  and  signed  by  Wilbur  Fisk,  the  famous  Father  Taylor, 
Abel  Stevens,  Bishop  Hedding,  and  five  others. 

Of  the  sixteen  delegates  elected  by  the  New  England 
and  New  Hampshire  conferences  to  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  1836  fourteen  were  pronounced  abolitionists.  One 
memorial  was  presented,  signed  by  two  hundred  ministers, 
asking  for  the  restoration  of  the  original  rule  on  slavery. 
Another  was  signed  by  2284  lay  members.  Many  other 
petitions  were  referred  to  a  committee,  but  the  conference 
passed  resolutions  condemning  abolitionism,  and  censured 


ACTIVITY  OF   THE  ABOLITIONISTS.  387 

George  Storrs  and  Samuel  Norris  for  attending  abolition 
meetings. 

The  New  York  Wesleyan  Society  issued  "  Zion's  Watch- 
man "  on  the  1st  of  January,  1836,  with  Sunderland  as 
editor.  Orange  Scott  issued  the  "  Wesleyan  Quarterly 
Review "  in  1838.  The  "Wesleyan  Journal"  of  Hal- 
lowell,  and  the  "New  England  Christian  Advocate"  of 
Lowell,  Luther  Lee  editor,  at  different  times  were  used 
as  organs  by  the  Methodist  abolitionists.  Orange  Scott 
and  Jotham  Horton  established,  in  Lowell,  Mass.,  in  1840, 
an  antislavery  paper  called  the  "  American  Wesleyan 
Observer." 

After  the  General  Conference  of  1836  the  abolitionists 
increased  their  activity,  being  greatly  stirred  up  by  the 
declarations  of  that  body.  The  abolitionists  in  the  New 
England  Conference  in  1837,  anticipating  that  the  bishop 
would  refuse  to  put  any  motion  involving  slavery  and 
abohtion,  determined  that  they  would  block  all  business 
and  adjourn  from  time  to  time,  and  notified  Bishop 
Waugh  of  their  purpose.  He  offered  to  allow  them  to 
adopt  a  respectful  petition  to  the  next  General  Confer- 
ence. Conventions  were  held,  each  augmenting  the  ex- 
citement and  committing  the  members  to  the  strongest 
position  on  slavery,  and  the  bishops  refused  in  many 
instances  to  put  motions  relating  to  the  subject.  Bishop 
Waugh,  in  the  New  England  Conference,  refused  to  put  a 
motion  to  refer  to  a  committee  memorials  on  slavery, 
and  would  not  allow  an  appeal  from  this  decision ;  de- 
clined to  give  an  opinion  as  to  whether  the  memorials 
had  been  received,  and  refused  to  put  a  motion  for  an  ex- 
pression as  to  whether  the  said  memorials  were  in  posses- 
sion of  the  conference. 

The  bishop  presiding  at  the  New  Hampshire  Conference 
stipulated  six  conditions  before  allowing  the  appointment 


388  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvi. 

of  a  committee  on  slavery,  and  these  the  conference  refused 
to  accept.  Bishop  Hedding  prepared  an  address  on  the 
subject  in  which  he  held  that,  in  harmony  with  the  golden 
rule,  there  were  cases  in  which  a  man  might  hold,  and 
under  the  civil  law  own,  a  slave ;  declared  that  he  believed 
that  there  were  many  such ;  adding,  "  And  I  am  not 
authorized  to  be  the  instrument  of  passing  various  resolu- 
tions which  even  imply  that  they  are  all  sinners." 

The  New  York  Conference  resohed  that  no  one  ought 
to  be  elected  to  the  office  of  deacon  or  elder  unless  he 
would  give  a  pledge  that  he  would  refrain  from  agitating 
the  church  with  discussions  on  slavery. 

Lucius  C.  Matlack,  three  months  previous  to  the  sit- 
ting of  the  Annual  Conference,  was  unanimously  licensed 
as  a  local  preacher  by  the  Union  charge  in  Philadelphia 
at  the  last  Quarterly  Conference  of  1837,  and  was  unani- 
mously recommended  to  be  received  as  a  traveling 
preacher.  In  the  interval  twelve  members  of  the  Metho- 
dist Church  in  Philadelphia  met  and  formed  a  Wesleyan 
Antislavery  Society.  Matlack  assisted  to  organize  this 
society,  and  was  appointed  secretary.  When  the  Phila- 
delphia Conference  met,  and  the  recommendation  of  Mat- 
lack  was  presented,  a  brother  highly  commended  him,  but 
closed  his  remarks  as  follows:  "In  justice  to  Brother 
Matlack  and  this  conference,  I  am  constrained  to  say  he  is 
a  modern  abolitionist."  One  of  the  presiding  elders  then 
said,  "  Mr.  President,  the  abolitionists  are  radicals.  This 
young  man  is  a  radical.  These  radicals  deny  your  author- 
ity and  the  authority  of  the  General  Conference.  He  has 
been  spoken  of  as  a  young  man  of  talents  and  piety.  If 
he  were  as  pious  as  St.  Paul  and  as  talented  as  an  angel, 
he  should  never  enter  this  conference  as  an  abolitionist  if  I 
could  prevent  it."  After  remarks  by  others  the  case  was 
laid  upon  the  table. 


MATLACK'S  DIFFICULTIES.  389 

Subsequently  Matlack  served  as  pastor  under  the  direc- 
tion of  a  presiding  elder,  but  at  the  next  session  of  the 
Philadelphia  Conference,  when  his  application  for  admis- 
sion was  renewed,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  confer 
with  him.  He  acknowledged  himself  "  a  modern  abolition- 
ist," and  when  the  fact  was  reported  he  was  unanimously  re- 
jected ;  but  on  motion  of  a  presiding  elder  his  employment 
on  any  district  during  the  next  year  was  authorized, 
though  many  consistently  voted  against  it.  At  the  Quar- 
terly Conference  of  the  Union  charge  in  Philadelphia, 
January  10,  1839,  Matlack  was  refused  a  renewal  of  his 
license.  That  his  "  gifts,  graces,  and  usefulness  "  were 
universally  approved  and  that  the  sole  charge  against  him 
was  abolitionism  are  proved  by  a  letter  from  President 
Durbin  of  Dickinson  College,  who  was  on  the  committee 
to  confer  with  him,  and  by  a  testimonial  from  the  Quarterly 
Conference  of  the  Union  charge,  signed  by  seven  of  the 
members  of  the  body  : 

"  Dickinson  College,  September  21,  1838. 

"Sir:  I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  19th  inst.  I 
am  not  sure  that  I  was  in  conference  when  your  case  was 
decided.  But  I  am  satisfied  that  I  did  not  hear  (or  if  I 
did  I  do  not  remember)  anything  urged  against  you  ex- 
cept your  connection  with  abolitionism.  I  supposed  then, 
and  suppose  now,  that  this  was  the  cause  why  you  were 
not  received.  If  there  were  other  causes  I  do  not  recol- 
lect them.  "  Respectfully, 

"J.  P.  Durbin." 

"  The  undersigned,  being  members  of  the  Quarterly 
Meeting  Conference  of  Union  charge,  Philadelphia,  and 
being  present  at  the  session  of  said  conference,  January 
10,  1839,  when  the  Hcense  of  Brother  Lucius  C.  Matlack 


390  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  x\  i. 

as  a  local  preacher  was  withheld,  deem  it  an  act  of  justice 
to  him  to  state  that  the  only  alleg^ed  cause  for  withholding 
his  license  was  his  having  delivered  public  lectures  in  sup- 
port of  '  modern  abolitionism,'  with  his  avowed  intention 
to  deliver  such  lectures  as  occasion  might  ofifer,  and  being 
in  favor  of  getting  up  antislavery  societies  in  the  church. 
"  William  Williams,  "  Henry  J.  Pepper, 
"A.  LuDiNGTON,  "Samuel  Y.  Monroe, 

"  Thomas  Taylor,         "  Mitchell  Bennis, 
"Thomas  K.  Peterson." 

Charles  K.  True,  James  Floy,  and  Paul  R.  Brown,  of 
the  New  York  Conference,  were  tried  by  that  body  in 
1838  for  aiding  in  the  publication  of  an  antislavery  tract, 
attending  an  antislavery  convention  at  Utica,  and  violat- 
ing an  alleged  pledge  made  the  year  before.  Luther  Lee, 
of  the  Black  River  Conference,  acted  as  counsel  for  True, 
who,  however,  was  suspended  by  a  vote  of  ninety-one  to 
thirty-seven.  Floy  also  was  suspended.  The  next  day 
both  agreed  to  refrain  from  such  actions  as  the  conference 
should  forbid,  and  to  abide  by  its  decisions  on  the  subject 
of  slavery  so  long  as  they  remained  members  of  the  body. 
Brown  refused  to  make  any  acknowledgment,  and  the  con- 
ference voted  that  he  be  rebuked  by  the  bishop. 

The  Pittsburg  Conference  dropped  a  probationer  of 
ability  for  lecturing  against  slavery.  The  Erie  Conference 
suspended  Benjamin  Preston  for  delivering  abolition  lec- 
tures and  for  denouncing  the  suspensions  in  the  New 
York  Conference.  J.  S.  Barris,  a  presiding  elder,  was  ad- 
monished for  similar  conduct. 

When  the  issue  was  fairly  joined  the  antislavery  party 
divided  into  two  well-defined  wings.  The  radical  abo- 
litionists held  all  slave-holding  to  be  sinful ;  that  no 
slave-holder  should  be  continued  in  the  communion  of  the 


METHODIST  ANTISLAVERY  CONVENTIONS.       "39 1 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church;  that  the  Methodist  Church 
.  was  largely  responsible  for  the  continuance  of  slavery  in 
the  United  States  ;  that  the  Discipline  should  be  so  changed 
as  to  exclude  them.  The  conservative  antislavery  men 
replied  that  the  Old  Testament  recognized  the  patriarchs 
as  owning  slaves,  and  the  New  Testament  nowhere  for- 
bade it.  Many  others  in  the  church  declared  slavery  to  be 
right,  and  the  only  proper  condition  for  the  negro  race, 
and  attempted -to  prove  it  by  the  Scriptures.^ 

The  first  regular  Methodist  antislavery  convention  was 
held  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  at  Cazenovia, 
N.  Y.,  August  3,  1837.  The  second  large  one  was  held 
at  Utica,  N.  Y.,  May  2,  3,  1838.  It  elected  Orange  Scott 
and  Luther  Lee  delegates  to  represent  Methodist  abo- 
litionists before  the  English  Wesleyan  and  the  Canada 
Wesleyan  conferences  respectively.  Lee  was  informed 
by  the  president  of  the  Canada  Conference  in  a  private  in- 
terview that,  though  it  was  in  sympathy  with  the  abolition- 
ists, it  would  be  improper  to  receive  a  delegate,  lest  the 
friendly  relations  between  the  two  bodies  be  disturbed. 
On  that  account  Scott  did  not  visit  England. 

The  Third  General  Convention  was  held  in  Lowell, 
Mass.,  in  November,  1838,  pursuant  to  a  call  issued  by 
James  Porter  and  signed  by  nearly  fifteen  hundred  names. 
Joseph  A.  Merrill  presided ;  Timothy  Merritt,  formerly 
assistant  editor  of  the  "  Christian  Advocate,"  was  first 
vice-president ;  La  Roy  Sunderland,  Elihu  Scott,  and  L.  C. 
Matlack  were  secretaries. 

Bishop  Hedding,  prior  to  this  convention,  delivered  from 
manuscript  an  address  of  four  hours  in  length  to  the  New 
England  Conference,  on  the  basis  of  which  Orange  Scott 
was  made  the  subject  of  charges.     He  replied  to  the  bish- 

1  Matlack's  "  Antislavery  Struggle  and  Triumph  in  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,"  pp.  122-125. 


392  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvi. 

op's  speech,  acknowledging  that  he  liad  made  erroneous 
statements  injurious  to  the  reputation  of  Bishop  Hedding, 
but  said  that  he  had  retracted  a  number  and  was  prepared 
to  retract  others.  Tlie  complaints  were  not  pressed,  but 
the  following  year  the  bishop  presented  to  the  conference 
formal  charges  against  Scott.     They  were  not  sustained. 

Sunderland,  charged  with  slanderous  misrepresentation, 
was  tried  before  the  New  England  Conference  in  1836, 
Nathan  Bangs  being  the  prosecutor,  but  was  acquitted 
by  a  two-thirds  vote;  was  tried  the  next  year,  Bangs 
prosecuting,  but  acquitted;  again  in  1838  with  similar 
result,  and  in  1839,  on  charges  made  by  the  New  York- 
Annual  Conference,  which  was  represented  by  Bangs  and 
by  Francis  Hodgson,  the  most  acute  debater  the  church  has 
produced,  and  one  of  its  most  forcible  orators,  and  again 
acquitted.  Finally  a  committee  in  New  York  tried  him  in 
his  absence,  and  declared  him  suspended  from  the  ministry 
until  the  next  session  of  the  New  England  Conference, 
when  the  proceedings  were  set  aside. 

He  was  immediately  put  on  trial  on  a  new  charge  of 
having  slandered  Bishop  Soule  by  admitting  into  the 
"Watchman"  the  false  statement  that  he  had  said  that 
he  had  never  yet  advised  the  liberation  of  a  slave,  and 
that  he  never  should ;  also  for  publishing  a  criticism  in 
verse  by  a  female  correspondent,  with  an  editorial  re- 
mark that  every  letter  of  it  was  justified.  One  stanza  of 
the  criticism  is  this : 

Receive  this  truth — deep,  dark,  thy  stain ; 

Thy  very  soul  is  tinged  with  blood; 
Go,  do  thy  first  works  o'er  again  — 

Go,  cleanse  thee  in  the  Saviour's  blood. 

Soule  presided  during  this  trial.  James  Porter,  him- 
self an  extraordinary  debater,  writing  in  1875,  says:  "  Mr. 


SOULE    VERSUS  SUNDERLAND.  393 

Sunderland's  defenses  were  wonderful  specimens  of  de- 
fensive power,  such  as  we  have  never  heard  excelled  in 
any  court  or  conference  since."  Sunderland  was  below 
medium  size,  his  voice  was  husky  and  on  the  lowest  key, 
whereas  his  opponent  spoke  in  thunder  tones.  Sunder- 
land said,  "  I  envy  the  vocal  power  of  my  enemy  ;  but,  sir, 
that  is  all  I  do  envy  about  that  man." 

The  rulings  of  Soule  in  a  case  where  his  own  repu- 
tation was  involved  were  such  as  to  provoke  sharp 
words  from  Sunderland.  The  bishop  attempted  to  main- 
tain his  dignity  by  administering  a  very  stern  rebuke : 
"  In  all  my  experience  and  in  all  my  intercourse  with  my 
fellow-men,  I  have  this  to  say:  that  La  Roy  Sunderland 
is  the  first  man  that  ever  dared  to  speak  to  me  in  that 
manner."  Sunderland,  using  every  atom  of  his  strength, 
almost  screamed  in  reply,  "  I  thank  God,  sir,  that  you 
have  lived  long  enough  to  find  one  man  who  will  tell  you 
to  your  face  what  many  others  say  of  you  behind  your 
back!"i 

The  charge  of  slander  was  sustained  by  a  small  majority, 
but  the  only  penalty  inflicted  was  that  he  be  required  to 
publish  the  finding  in  "  Zion's  Watchman  "  without  note  or 
comment.  He  did  so,  inserting  the  words  in  display  type, 
with  deep  mourning  border  around  them.  At  this  confer- 
ence he  withdrew  from  the  traveling  ministry  by  location. 

While  these  proceedings  were  taking  place  in  the  North 
conventions  equally  excited  were  being  held  and  resolutions 
correspondingly  intense  were  being  passed  in  the  South  both 
in  church  and  state.  In  the  condition  of  mind  naturally  in- 
duced by  them  the  General  Conference  of  1840  assembled. 

Just  before  that  the  Annual  Conferences  were  asked  to 
pass  judgment  on  a  change  in  the  general  rule  on  slavery 
proposed   by   the   New   England   Conference,  so   that    it 

1  Matlack's  "  Antislavery  Struggle  and  Triumph,"  p.  132. 


394  "^HE  METIIODISrS.  [Chap.  xvi. 

should  read,  "  the  buying  or  selling  or  holding  men, 
women,  or  children  as  slaves,  except  on  purpose  to  free 
them."  In  the  Genesee  thirty  voted  for  and  sixty  against ; 
in  the  Pittsburg  only  five  votes  were  given  for  it;  and  all 
other  conferences  outside  of  New  England  gave  less  than 
these  two,  and  some  none.  The  Michigan  gave  one  affirm- 
ative vote ;  the  Erie  three.  Antislavery  memorials,  signed 
by  five  hundred  traveling  preachers  and  more  than  ten 
thousand  private  members,  were  sent  to  the  General  Con- 
ference ;  but  only  one  in  seven  of  the  twenty-eight  Annual 
Conferences  asked  for  antislavery  action. 

A  memorial  from  New  York  City,  signed  by  nearly 
twelve  hundred  abolitionists,  roused  much  excitement. 
Orange  Scott,  contrary  to  the  facts,  was  charged  with 
fraud  in  connection  with  this  memorial.  Action  was 
taken  which  caused  dissatisfaction  among  the  abolitionists. 
Silas  Comfort,  a  member  of  the  Missouri  Conference,  had 
appealed  from  a  decision  of  that  body,  which  had  ad- 
judged him  guilty  of  maladministration  for  admitting  the 
testimony  of  a  colored  member  against  a  white.  After  a 
protracted  debate,  on  the  1 7th  of  May  the  conference  re- 
jected a  resolution  confirming  the  decision  of  the  Missouri 
Conference.  The  next  day,  on  motion  of  Ignatius  A.  Few, 
an  influential  member  of  the  Georgia  Conference,  by.  a  vote 
of  seventy-four  to  forty-six  the  conference  passed  this  res- 
olution :  *' Resolved,  That  it  is  inexpedient  and  unjustifiable 
for  any  preacher  among  us  to  permit  colored  persons  to 
give  testimony  against  white  persons  in  any  State  where 
they  are  denied  that  privilege  in  trials  at  law." 

Attempts  were  made  subsequently  to  reconsider  Few's 
resolution ;  but  after  various  amendments  and  substitutes 
were  offered  a  final  vote  was  taken  on  a  substitute  offered 
by  William  A.  Smith,  of  Virginia :  "  That  it  is  inexpedient 
and  unjustifiable  for  any  preacher  among  us  to  admit  per- 


RIGHT  OF  NEGROES    TO    TESTIFY.  395 

sons  of  color  to  give  testimony  on  the  trial  of  white  per- 
sons in  any  slave-holding  State  or  Territory  where  they  are 
denied  that  privilege  in  trials  at  law ;  Provided,  that  when 
an  Annual  Conference  in  any  such  State  or  Territory  shall 
judge  it  expedient  to  admit  of  the  introduction  of  such 
testimony  within  its  bounds  it  shall  be  allowed  to  do  so." 
This  was  lost  by  a  tie  vote  of  sixty-nine  to  sixty-nine. 

Much  unpleasantness  of  feeling  having  been  aroused, 
Bishop  Soule,  on  the  2d  of  June,  offered  the  following 
resolutions,  which  were  adopted  by  a  vote  of  ninety-seven 
to  twenty-seven : 

"i.  Resolved,  That  in  the  decision  of  this  conference,  in 
the  case  of  the  appeal  of  the  Rev.  Silas  Comfort,  it  is  not 
intended  to  express  or  imply  that  the  testimony  of  colored 
persons  against  white  persons  in  church  trials  is  either  ex- 
pedient or  justifiable  in  any  of  the  slave-holding  States  or 
Territories  where  the  civil  laws  prohibit  such  testimony  in 
trials  at  law. 

"  2.  Resolved,  That  it  is  not  the  intention  of  this  confer- 
ence, in  the  adoption  of  the  resolution  of  the  Rev.  Ignatius 
A.  Few,  of  Georgia,  in  regard  to  the  admission  of  the  tes- 
timony of  colored  persons,  to  prohibit  such  testimony  in 
church  trials  in  any  of  the  States  or  Territories  where  it  is 
the  established  usage  of  the  church  to  admit  it,  and  where, 
in  the  judgment  of  the  constitutional  judicatories  of  the 
church,  such  testimony  may  be  admitted  with  safety  to 
the  peace  of  society  and  the  best  interests  of  all  concerned. 

"  3.  Resolved,  That  it  is  not  the  intention  of  this  confer- 
ence, in  either  of  the  above  cases  or  in  any  action  had  by 
this  body,  to  express  or  imply  any  distrust  or  want  of 
confidence  in  the  Christian  piety  or  integrity  of  the  nu- 
merous body  of  colored  members  under  our  pastoral  care, 
to  whom  we  are  bound  by  the  bonds  of  the  gospel  of 
Christ,  and  for  whose   spiritual  and  eternal   interests,  to- 


396  THE  METHODISTS.  (Chap.  xvi. 

gather  with  all  our  fellow-men  of  every  color  and  in  every 
relation  and  condition  in  life,  we  will  never  cease  to  labor." 

The  subject  of  slavery  was  also  discussed  in  the  "  An- 
swer of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  "  '  to  a  fraternal  address  from  the  British  Wesley  an 
Conference.  That  document  had  specifically  referred  to  the 
subject,  and,  while  declining  to  advocate  violent  and  ill-con- 
sidered measures,  it  said,  "  We  are,  however,  strongly  and 
unequivocally  of  the  opinion  that  it  is  at  this  time  the  para- 
mount Christian  duty  of  the  ministers  of  our  most  merciful 
Lord  in  your  country  to  maintain  the  /^rinczj>/e  oi  oppo- 
sition to  slavery  with  earnest  zeal  and  unflinching  firmness." 

On  this  subject  the  Conference  of  1840  said:  "  W^e 
have  considered  with  affectionate  respect  and  confidence 
your  brotherly  suggestions  concerning  slavery,  and  most 
cheerfully  return  an  unreserved  answer  to  them.  And  we 
do  so  the  rather,  brethren,  because  of  the  numerous  preju- 
dicial statements  which  have  been  put  forth  in  certain 
quarters  to  the  wounding  of  the  church." 

The  conference  denied  that  it  had  adopted  any  new 
principle  or  rule  of  Discipline,  and  affirmed  that  it  did  not 
mean  to  do  so. 

"  Of  these  United  States  (to  the  government  and  laws 
of  which,  '  according  to  the  division  of  power  made  to 
them  by  the  Constitution  of  the  Union  and  the  constitu- 
tions of  the  several  States,'  we  owe  and  delight  to  render 
a  sincere  and  patriotic  loyalty)  there  are  several  which  do 
not  allow  of  slavery.  There  are  others  in  which  it  is  al- 
lowed and  there  are  slaves,  but  the  tendency  of  the  laws 
and  the  minds  of  the  majority  of  the  people  are  in  favor 
of  emancipation.  But  there  are  others  in  which  slavery 
exists  so  universally,  and  is  so  closely  interwoven  with 
their  civil  institutions,  that  both  do  the  laws  disallow  of 

1  "Journal  of  the  General  Conference,"  1840,  p.  153. 


THE  AMERICAN   TO    THE  BRITISH  CONFERENCE.     397 

emancipation,  and  the  great  body  of  the  people  (the  source 
of  laws  with  us)  hold  it  to  be  treasonable  to  set  forth  any- 
thing by  word  or  deed  tending  that  way.  Each  one  of 
all  these  States  is  independent  of  the  rest  and  sovereign 
with  respect  to  its  internal  government  (as  much  so  as  if 
there  existed  no  confederation  among  them  for  ends  of 
common  interest),  and  therefore  it  is  impossible  to  frame 
a  rule  on  slavery  proper  for  our  people  in  all  the  States 
alike.  But  our  church  is  extended  through  all  the  States, 
and,  as  it  would  be  wrong  and  unscriptural  to  enact  a  rule 
of  discipline  in  opposition  to  the  constitution  and  laws  of 
the  State  on  this  subject,  so  also  would  it  not  be  equitable 
or  Scriptural  to  confound  the  positions  of  our  ministers 
and  people  (so  different  as  they  are  in  different  States) 
with  respect  to  the  moral  question  which  slavery  involves. 
"  Under  the  administration  of  the  venerable  Dr.  Coke 
this  plain  distinction  was  once  overlooked,  and  it  was  at- 
tempted to  urge  emancipation  in  all  the  States ;  but  the 
attempt  proved  almost  ruinous  and  was  soon  abandoned 
by  the  doctor  himself.  While,  therefore,  the  church  has 
encouraged  emancipation  in  those  States  where  the  laws 
permit  it,  and  allowed  the  freedman  to  enjoy  freedom,  we 
have  refrained,  for  conscience'  sake,  from  all  intermed- 
dling with  the  subject  in  those  other  States  where  the  laws 
make  it  criminal.  And  such  a  course  we  think  agreeable 
to  the  Scriptures,  and  indicated  by  St.  Paul's  inspired  in- 
struction to  servants  in  his  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians 
vii.  20,  21.  For  if  servants  were  not  to  care  for  their  serv- 
itude when  they  might  not  be  free,  though  if  they  might 
be  free  they  should  use  it  ratJicr,  so  neither  should  masters 
be  condemned  for  not  setting  them  free  when  they  might 
not  do  so,  though  if  they  might  they  should  do  so  rather. 
The  question  of  the  evil  of  slavery,  abstractly  consid- 
ered, you  will  readily  perceive,  brethren,  is  a  very  differ- 


398  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvi. 

ent  matter  from  a  principle  or  rule  of  church  discipline  to 
be  executed  contrary  to  and  in  defiance  of  the  law  of  the 
land.  Methodism  has  always  been  (except,  perhaps,  in 
the  single  instance  above)  eminently  loyal  and  promotive 
of  good  order;  and  so  we  desire  it  may  ever  continue  to 
be  both  in  Europe  and  America.  With  this  sentiment 
we  conclude  the  subject,  adding  only  the  corroborating 
language  of  your  noble  Missionary  Society,  by  the  revered 
and  lamented  Watson,  in  their  instructions  to  missionaries, 
published  in  the  report  of  1833,  as  follows: 

"  '  As  in  the  colonies  in  which  you  are  called  to  labor  a 
great  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  are  in  a  state  of  slav- 
ery, the  committee  most  strongly  call  to  your  remem- 
brance what  was  so  fully  stated  to  you  when  you  were 
accepted  as  a  missionary  to  the  West  Indies :  that  your 
only  business  is  to  promote  the  moral  and  religious  im- 
provement of  the  slaves  to  whom  you  may  have  access, 
without  in  the  least  degree,  in  public  or  private,  interfer- 
ing with  their  civil  condition.'  "1 

Another  affair  of  importance  was  a  remonstrance  of 
thirty  official  members  of  the  church  in  the  Baltimore  Con- 
ference against  the  action  of  that  body  in  refusing  to  recom- 
mend for  ordination  certain  local  ministers  who  held  slaves. 
The  committee  made  a  report  occupying  nearly  six  pages 
of  the  "  Journal,"  reviewing  the  whole  subject,  and  offered 
a  resolution,  which  was  adopted  : 

"Resolved  by  the  delegates  of  the  several  Annual  Con- 
ferences, in  General  Conference  assembled.  That,  under  the 
provisional  exception  of  the  general  rule  of  the  church  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,  the  simple  holding  of  slaves,  or 
mere  ownership  of  slave  property,  in  States  or  Territories 
where  the  laws  do  not  admit  of  emancipation  and  permit 
the  liberated  slave  to  enjoy  freedom,  constitutes  no  legal 

J  "Journal  of  the  General  Conference,"  1840,  pp.  155,  156. 


APPEAL    OF  DANIEL  DORCHESTER.  399 

barrier  to  the  election  or  ordination  of  ministers  to  [the 
various  grades  of  office  known  in  the  ministry  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Cliurch,  and  cannot,  therefore,  be 
considered  as  operating  any  forfeiture  of  right  in  view  of 
such  election  and  ordination." 

Daniel  Dorchester,  presiding  elder  of  the  Springfield 
district  of  the  New  England  Conference,  in  1838  refused 
to  allow  a  Quarterly  Conference  to  pass  antislavery  reso- 
lutions, and  abruptly  adjourned  it.  A  call  was  published 
in  '*  Zion's  Herald  "  for  a  conference  of  laymen  "  to  give  a 
united  and  decided  expression  of  opinion  in  relation  to  the 
oppressive  course  pursued  by  the  presiding  elder  during  the 
last  year."  The  convention  was  held,  and  a  committee  ap- 
pointed to  correspond  with  Bishop  Waugh  and  request  the 
removal  of  the  elder.  The  committee  complied  with  its  in- 
structions, and  not  only  proposed  the  removal  of  Dorchester, 
but  nominated  several  gentlemen  who,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
convention,  would  be  acceptable  and  useful  as  president 
of  the  district.  Waugh  replied,  admitting  that  "  Zion 
mourned  on  the  district"  as  represented  by  the  brethren, 
but  adding,  "  While  I  mourn  on  that  account,  I  have  no 
reason  to  believe  that  the  causes  of  her  desolation  are  to 
be  found  in  either  the  talents,  piety,  or  conduct  of  your 
presiding  elder."     He  thus  closed: 

"  In  the  absence  of  all  specific  objection  in  your  request 
for  his  removal  (to  say  nothing  of  the  anti-Methodist  char- 
acter of  your  convention,  and  without  charging  this  irreg- 
ularity to  its  true  cause,  which  has  also  operated  your 
mournful  desolations),  I  must  respectfully  inform  you  that 
I  do  not  see  sufficient  cause  to  remove  Brother  Dorchester 
from  the  Springfield  district. 

"  Respectfully  yours, 

"B.  Waugh." 


400  'fHE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  x\  i. 

He  had  presided  at  the  preceding  session  of  the  New 
England  Conference,  and  the  following  charge  and  speci- 
fication had  been  presented  against  Dorchester: 

'^Charge. — For  exceeding  the  powers  of  his  office. 

''Specification. — In  peremptorily  arresting  the  Quarterly 
Meeting  Conference,  on  the  evening  of  the  thirteenth  day 
of  August  last,  in  the  midst  of  business  which  he  had 
allowed  them  to  commence  ;  and  for  suddenly  and  unprec- 
edentedly  adjourning  the  conference  contrary  to  the  ex- 
press wish  of  the  great  majority  of  the  conference,  thereby 
abridging  them  in  the  exercise  of  their  privileges  of  an 
associated  body." 

The  conference  declared  the  charge  sustained,  and  cen- 
sured Dorchester. 

He  appealed  to  the  General  Conference  of  1840,  and  on 
the  trial  was  heard  without  limitation  of  time.  Four  mem- 
bers of  the  delegation  from  the  New  England  Conference, 
including  Orange  Scott,  replied  to  him,  and  Joseph  Hol- 
dich  responded  in  his  behalf.  Bishop  Andrew  decided 
that  the  delegates  from  the  New  England  Conference 
could  not  reply  to  Dorchester.  An  appeal  was  taken  by 
a  Southern  delegate,  but  the  decision  of  the  chair  was  sus- 
tained. 

At  the  close  of  the  discussion  the  following  resolution, 
moved  by  Ignatius  A.  Few,  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  yeas  against  seventeen  nays:  ''Re- 
solved, That  the  decision  of  the  New  England  Conference 
of  1839,  censuring  the  Rev.  D.  Dorchester  and  requiring 
him  to  pursue  a  different  course  in  future,  be,  and  the 
same  hereby  is,  reversed."  ^ 

The  report  on  slavery  was  non-committal,  and  the  con- 
ference would  not  allow  a  minority  report  to  be  presented. 
Scott  was  permitted,  however,  to  oppose  the  adoption 
1  "  Journal  of  the  General  Conference,"  1840,  pp.  47,  48. 


WHITTIER'S   OPINION  OF  SCOTT.  40 1 

of  the  report,  and,  his  time  being  indefinitely  extended, 
he  occupied  two  hours.  All  accounts  agree  that  he  spoke 
with  directness  and  courage,  in  a  dignified  and  conciHatory 
manner. 

William  A.  Smith,  of  the  Virginia  Conference,  after  say- 
ing that  if  slavery  was  a  moral  evil,  Scott  reasoned  like  a 
philosopher  and  ought  not  to  be  condemned,  denied  that 
it  was  such. 

Scott  was  possessed  of  extraordinary  forensic  and  gen- 
eral oratoric  power.  John  G.  Whittier,  the  poet  of  nature, 
philanthropy,  abolitionism,  and  of  the  traditions  of  New 
England,  gives  an  instance : 

"  We  had  Hstened  with  intense  interest  to  the  thrilling 
eloquence  of  George  Thompson,  and  Henry  B.  Stanton 
had  put  forth  one  of  his  happiest  efforts.  A  crowded 
assembly  had  been  chained  to  their  seats  for  hours.  It 
was  near  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening.  A  pause  ensued; 
the  audience  became  unsettled,  and  many  were  moving 
toward  the  door  purposing  to  retire.  A  new  speaker 
arose.  He  was  a  plain- looking  man,  and  seemed  rather 
to  hesitate  in  the  few  observations  he  first  offered.  An 
increasing  disposition  to  listen  evidently  encouraged  him, 
and  he  became  animated  and  lively,  eliciting  demonstra- 
tions of  applause.  Spurred  on  by  this,  he  continued  with 
increasing  interest  evident  on  the  part  of  his  hearers,  who 
now  resigned  themselves  willingly  to  his  powerful  appeals, 
responding  at  short  intervals  in  thunders  of  applause.  To 
many  his  illustrations  were  new  and  startling.  I  never  can 
forget  the  masterly  manner  in  which  he  met  the  objection 
that  abolitionists  were  bHnded  by  prejudice  and  working 
in  the  dark.  '  Blind  though  we  be,'  he  remarked,  '  aye, 
sir,  though  blind  as  Samson  in  the  temple  of  Dagon,  like 
him,  if  we  can  do  no  more,  we  will  grope  our  way  along, 
feeling  for  the  pillars  of  that  temple  which  has  been  con- 


402  THE  MElTIODISrS.  [Ciiap,  xvi. 

secrated  to  the  bloody  rites  of  the  Moloch  Slavery ;  and, 
grasping  their  base,  we  will  bend  forward,  nerved  by  the 
omnipotence  of  truth,  and,  o'erturning  the  supports  on 
which  this  system  qf  abomination  rests,  upheave  the  entire 
fabric,  whose  undistinguishable  ruins  shall  yet  mark  tlie 
spot  w^iere  our  grandest  moral  victory  was  proudly  won.' 
The  climax  was  complete ;  the  applause  was  unbounded  as 
the  speaker  retired.  Upon  inquiry,  we  heard  the  name  of 
O.  Scott,  now  so  well  known  among  the  ablest  advocates 
of  the  slave's  cause."  ^ 

The  following  "  lame  and  impotent  conclusion,"  equally 
distasteful  to  the  North  and  to  the  South,  was  reached  by 
the  conference : 

"  Since  the  commencement  of  the  present  session  of  the 
General  Conference  memorials  have  been  presented,  prin- 
cipally from  the  Northern  and  Eastern  divisions  of  the 
work,  some  praying  for  the  action  of  the  conference  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,  and  others  asking  for  radical 
changes  in  the  economy  of  the  church.  The  results  of 
the  deliberations  of  the  committees  to  whom  these  memo- 
rials had  a  respectful  reference,  and  the  final  action  of  the 
conference  upon  them,  may  be  seen  among  the  doings  of 
this  body  as  reported  and  published.  The  issue  in  several 
instances  is  probably  different  from  what  the  memorialists 
may  have  thought  they  had  reason  to  expect.  But  it  is 
to  be  hoped  they  will  not  suppose  the  General  Conference 
has  either  denied  them  any  legitimate  right  or  been  want- 
ing in  a  proper  respect  for  their  opinions.  Such  is  the 
diversity  of  habits  of  thought,  manners,  customs,  and  do- 
mestic relations  among  the  people  of  this  vast  republic, 
and  such  the  diversity  of  the  institutions  of  the  sovereign 
States  of  the  confederacy,  that  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  an 

1  Lucius  C.  Matlack's  "  History  of  American  Slavery  and  Methodism" 
(New  York,  1849). 


ABOLITIONISTS  SECEDING. 


403 


easy  task  to  suit  all  the  incidental  circumstances  of  our 
economy  to  the  views  and  feelings  of  the  vast  mass  of 
minds  interested.  We  pray,  therefore,  that  brethren 
whose  views  may  have  been  crossed  by  the  acts  of  this 
conference  will  at  least  give  us  the  credit  of  having  acted 
in  good  faith,  and  of  not  having  regarded  private  ends  or 
party  interests,  but  the  best  good  of  the  whole  family  of 
American  Methodists." 

How  unsatisfactory  all  these  proceedings  were  to  the 
abolitionists  subsequent  events  made  obvious. 

On  the  13th  of  May,  1841,  a  small  connection,  taking 
the  name  of  Wesleyan  Methodists,  was  formed  in  Michi- 
gan. In  two  years  it  reported  17  stationed  preachers,  9 
circuits,  and  11 16  members.^ 

Numerous  individuals  seceded  from  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  and  joined  other  denominations,  while  many 
withdrew,  undetermined  whether  to  form  a  new  sect  or 
remain  disconnected  from  the  visible  church.  Orange 
Scott,  whose  health  had  been  impaired,  spent  a  year  or 
more  in  partial  retirement  at  Newbury,  Vt.,  but  contrib- 
uted articles  to  the  press  in  which  he  questioned  whether 
his  past  mode  of  conducting  the  antislavery  controversy 
had  been  wise,  and  expressed  doubts  of  the  possibility  of 
reforming  the  church  until  the  state  should  move.  In  one 
of  his  essays  he  said  that  "  there  is  no  alternative  but  to 
submit  to  things  pretty  much  as  they  are,  or  secede."  He 
declared  that  he  had  never  felt  prepared  to  withdraw,  but 
announced  his  opinion  that  those  who  could  not  conscien- 
tiously submit  to  Methodist  economy  and  usages  would  do 
better  to  leave  peaceably. 

Matlack's  "  Life  of  Scott  "  furnishes  evidence  that  vari- 
ous prominent  men  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
urged  the  latter  to  prepare  a  plan  of  church  government, 

1  Matlack's  "  Antislavery  Struggle  and  Triumph,"  p.  139. 


404  THE  METHODISrS.  [Chai'.  xvi. 

call  a  convention,  and  secede,  assuring  him  of  their  hearty 
cooperation. 

Finally,  in  1842,  Scott,  with  Jotham  Horton  and  La 
Roy  Sunderland,  announced  their  withdrawal  in  a  paper 
then  established,  known  as  the  "True  Wesleyan,"  and 
called  a  convention  of  all  who  agreed  with  them  to  pre- 
pare for  the  organization  of  a  church  which  should  be 
non-episcopal  and  antislavery.  Luther  Lee,  Cyrus  Prin- 
dle,  Edward  Smith,  W.  H.  Brewster,  Marcus  Swift,  Lucius 
C.  Matlack,  and  many  others  coalesced  with  them.  A 
convention  for  organization  was  held  May  31,  1843,  ^t 
Utica,  N.  Y.,  and  the  Wesleyan  Connection  of  America 
was  formed.  About  six  thousand  adhered  to  them,  in- 
cluding twenty-two  from  the  traveling  ministry  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  "  and  as  many  more  from 
the  Protestant  and  Reformed  Methodists;"  to  these  were 
added  forty-four  who  reported  by  letter.  These  were  di- 
vided into  six  Annual  Conferences,  and  at  the  first  Gen- 
eral Conference,  held  eighteen  months  afterward,  a  total 
membership  of  fifteen  thousand  was  reported.^ 

This  church  retained  Quarterly,  Annual,  and  General 
Conferences.  Scott  was  in  favor  of  a  modified  episcopacy, 
diocesan  in  character,  with  a  limitation  of  time,  and  eligi- 
bility to  reelection  every  four  years.  The  general  rule  on 
slavery  was  changed  so  as  to  read,  "  Buying  or  selling  of 
men,  women,  or  children  with  the  intention  to  enslave 
them,  or  holding  them  as  slaves,  or  claiming  that  it  is  right 
so  to  do."  The  eighth  Article  of  Religion  held:  "We 
are  required  to  acknowledge  God  as  our  only  Supreme 
Ruler,  and  all  men  are  created  by  him  equal  in  all  nat- 
ural rights.  Wherefore  all  men  are  bound  so  to  order  all 
their  individual  and  social  and  political  acts  as  to  render 
to  God  entire  and  absolute  obedience,  and  to  secure  to  all 
1  Matlack's  "  Antislavery  Struggle  and  Triumph,"  chap.  xiii. 


jV£IF  phase   of   the    CONTROVERSY.  405 

men  the  enjoyment  of  every  natural  right,  as  well  as  to 
promote  the  greatest  happiness  of  each  in  the  possession 
and  exercise  of  such  rights." 

The  House  of  Representatives  of  the  legislature  of 
Maryland,  early  in  1842,  passed  a  resolution  the  tendency 
of  which  would  be  to  drive  from  Maryland  or  reduce  to 
bondage  free  negroes.  The  bill  was  entitled  "  An  Act  for 
the  Better  Security  of  Negro  Slaves,  and  Promoting  In- 
dustry and  Honesty  among  the  Free  People  of  Color." 
Dr.  Bond,  who  had  written  so  vigorously  and  relentlessly 
against  the  abolitionists,  and  who  was  a  native  of  that  State, 
denounced  the  movement  of  the  Slave-holders'  Convention 
as  "  beyond  the  ordinary  evil  and  wickedness  of  men,"  and 
exclaimed,  "  To  our  brethren  we  say,  and  to  all  who  fear 
God  we  say,  you  are  released.  The  Slave-holders'  Con- 
vention has  taken  off  your  strait-jackets.  The  questions 
which  we  were  told  it  was  dangerous  to  discuss  are  now 
forced  upon  us  by  those  who  conjured  us  to  be  silent  for 
the  sake  of  mercy  and  humanity ;  and,  with  the  blessing 
of  God,  we  will  discuss  them  to  the  heart's  content  of  the 
Slave-holders'  Convention." 

The  columns  of  the  "  Christian  Advocate  "  were  now 
opened  editorially  to  the  discussion  of  slavery.  Bond  dis- 
cussed two  questions :  "  Ought  the  General  Conference 
to  enact  a  rule  of  discipline  by  which  all  slave-holders, 
whatever  be  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  case,  shall 
be  expelled  from  the  communion  of  the  church  ?  "  and  "  If 
it  be  admitted  that  there  are  circumstances  which  will  jus- 
tify a  Methodist  in  holding  slaves,  then,  whether  it  is  pos- 
sible to  make  a  rule  which,  while  it  will  reach  all  others, 
shall  spare  those  exempt  cases."  He  maintained  the  neg- 
ative, but  allowed  the  Rev.  Robert  Boyd  to  publish  two 
articles  on  the  other  side.  In  Bond's  reply  he  expressed 
modified  antislavery  views.     This  led  to  severe  criticism 


406  THE  METHODISTS.  [Cuai'.  xvi. 

of  his  attitude  in  the  "  Southern  Advocate."  It  was  also 
condemned  by  resokition  in  various  Quarterly  Conferences 
in  Georgia  and  Alabama.  To  these  he  replied  that  extreme 
views  on  the  Southern  side  were  as  dangerous  to  the  com- 
mon welfare  as  abolitionism ;  that  the  views  then  uttered 
in  the  South  "  would  leave  us  without  hope  of  a  better 
state  of  things;  for  slavery  must  not  only  be  endured,  but 
purposely  propagated  :"  adding  that  should  the  church  re- 
quire him  to  advocate  or  defend  the  opinion  set  forth  in 
the  resolutions  from  Georgia  and  Alabama,  he  would  re- 
sign as  editor;  and  should  the  church  ever  cease  to  testify 
against  slavery  as  a  moral  evil,  as  he  had  defined  that  term, 
he  should  seek  a  purer  community.^ 

Aroused  to  their  danger  by  the  threatened  establish- 
ment of  the  Wesleyan  Connection,  the  Methodist  aboli- 
tionists of  New  England  had  begun  to  hold  conventions. 
At  a  large  one  held  in  Boston,  January  18,  1843,  it  was 
resolved  that  "slave-holding  is  sin;  that  every  slave- 
holder is  a  sinner,  and  ought  not  to  be  admitted  to  the 
pulpit  or  the  communion  ;  that  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  is  responsible  for  slavery  within  its  pale." 

A  convention  held  at  Halo  well.  Me.,  declared  that, 
"  from  a  careful  collection  of  documentary  evidence,  with 
other  well-attested  facts,  there  are  within  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  200  traveling  ministers  holding  1600 
slaves;  about  1000  local  preachers  holding  10,000;  and 
about  25,000  members  holding  207,900  more." 

A  similar  convention  at  Claremont,  N.  H.,  resolved  that 
the  "  only  way  to  prevent  entire  dissolution  among  us  as 
a  church  is  in  an  entire  separation  from  the  South." 

*  "  Christian  Advocate,"  vol.  xviii.  p.  lO. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

BISECTION    OF   THE    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH. 

The  ninth  delegated  General  Conference  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  assembled  in  the  Green  Street 
Church  of  the  city  of  New  York  on  Wednesday,  May  i, 
1844,  Bishops  Soule,  Hedding,  Andrew,  Waugh,  and  Mor- 
ris being  present.  Bishop  Roberts  had  died  March  26, 
1843,  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  Bishop  Simpson, 
who  knew  him  well,  speaks  of  him  as  "  one  of  the  earth's 
purest  and  noblest  sons."  ^ 

The  conference  convened  under  a  sense  of  impending 
disaster,  the  more  depressing  because  none  could  forecast 
its  form.  The  episcopal  address  was  read  by  Bishop  Soule. 
\t  made  no  reference  to  slavery,  but  dwelt  at  length  upon 
the  missions  among  "  people  of  color "  in  the  Southern 
and  Southwestern  States,  giving  thanks  to  God  that  "  the 
unhappy  excitement  which,  for  several  years,  spread  a 
dark  cloud  over  our  prospects,  and  weakened  our  hands, 
and  filled  our  hearts  with  grief,  has  died  away  and  almost 
ceased  to  blast  our  labors."  It  condemned  the  treatment 
of  the  colored  people  in  those  parts  of  the  church  where 
slavery  did  not  exist ;  pointing  out  that  there  were  four 
Annual  Conferences  without  a  colored  member;  eight 
Nthers    had    an    aggregate    number  of    463,   an    average 

1  "  Life  of  Roberts  "  ("  Lives  of  Methodist  Bishops  "). 
407 


4o8  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvii. 

of  less  than  60 ;  and  that  in  fifteen — almost  half  the 
conferences  in  the  connection,  and  some  of  them  among 
the  largest  in  both  ministry  and  membership — the  total 
number  of  colored  members  was  but  1309.  The  address 
continued  :  "In  many  of  these  conferences  there  is  a  numer- 
ous colored  population,  and  in  each  of  them  a  very  con- 
siderable number."  It  raised  the  question  whether  the 
freedom  of  the  people  of  color  within  the  bounds  of  these 
conferences  could  be  urged  as  the  cause  of  their  not  being 
gathered  into  the  fold  of  Christ,  alleging  that  such  could 
not  be  the  case,  because  "  in  the  city  of  Baltimore  alone 
there  are  nearly  four  times  the  number  of  colored  people 
in  the  church  that  we  find  in  the  fifteen  conferences  re- 
ferred to ;  and  yet  a  vast  majority  of  them  are  as  free  as 
they  are  in  almost  all  of  the  States  embraced  in  these  con- 
ferences." 

If  this  was  intended  to  divert  the  mind  of  the  General 
Conference  from  the  dangerous  subject  of  slavery,  it  was 
not  successful.  Under  the  call  for  reports,  petitions,  and 
memorials,  Bishop  Andrew  being  in  the  chair,  when  the 
Providence  Conference  was  reached  Frederick  Upham  pre- 
sented a  memorial  on  that  subject.  Thereupon  Collins,  of 
Baltimore,  moved  a  "  committee,  to  be  called  the  Commit- 
tee on  Slavery,  to  be  constituted  of  one  member  from  each 
Annual  Conference."  Capers,  of  South  Carolina,  moved 
to  lay  this  on  the  table,  but  the  motion  did  not  prevail, 
and  the  committee  was  ordered,  Upham  offering  commu- 
nications from  six  stations,  and  Benton,  from  the  same  con- 
ference, adding  another;  from  eight  stations  in  the  New 
England  Conference  memorials  were  presented.  A  me- 
morial of  the  Maine  Annual  Conference  on  the  same  sub- 
ject was  introduced,  while  from  New  Hampshire  came  dis- 
tinct memorials  and  resolutions  from  thirty-eight  cities  and 
towns ;  western  New  York  sent  another ;  the  Black  River 


INUNDATION  OF  ANTISLAVERY  PETITIONS.        409 

Conference  another;  Pittsburg  seventeen  ;  North  Ohio  ten  ; 
Ohio  one ;  and  Rock  River  one.  On  the  next  day  was 
presented  a  memorial  from  Philadelphia  relating  to  the 
testimony  of  colored  members,  and  during  several  days 
following  sixty-six  memorials  were  received  ;  some  relating 
to  colored  testimony,  others  to  a  change  of  the  general  rule, 
others  to  the  appointment  of  slave-holders  to  the  office  of 
missionary  secretary,  or  as  missionaries  under  the  direction 
of  the  parent  board. 

In  the  discussion  on  their  reference  to  the  Committee 
on  Slavery,  William  A.  Smith  said  he  was  sorry  these 
memorials  taught  the  lesson  they  did,  that  there  were  so 
many  that  were  rabid  on  this  subject.  They  of  the  South 
could  get  as  many  as  they  pleased  of  a  contrary  character, 
but  they  had  thought  proper  not  to  offend  the  feelings  of 
the  conference  by  adopting  such  a  course ;  or  otherwise 
they  could  get  them  with  strong  arguments,  and  abound- 
ing with  insulting  epithets  and  degrading  remarks  calcu- 
lated to  arouse  the  feelings  of  the  Eastern  and  Northern 
brethren  ;  but  they  were  above  it,  superior  to  it,  and  would 
scorn  to  stoop  to  so  contemptible  a  method  of  defending 
their  position.  He  affirmed  that  the  Southern  members 
had  never  had  a  fair  hearing  ;  that  he  had  never  known  but 
one  solitary  instance  in  which  they  had  been  calmly  and 
patiently  heard,  and  that  was  when  Dr.  Capers  addressed 
them.  "  They  were  assailed  with  cries  of  '  Order,'  '  Your 
fifteen  minutes  are  out,'  though  that  had  been  extended 
again  and  again ;  and  thus  they  were  dogged  into  silence, 
and  the  true  ground  taken  by  the  South  had  never  been 
fully  heard  on  the  floor  of  that  conference." 

The  appeal  of  Francis  A.  Harding,  of  the  Baltimore 
Conference,  was  made  the  order  of  the  day  for  Tuesday, 
May  7th.  He  had  been  suspended  from  his  ministerial 
standing  for  refusing  to  manumit  certain  slaves  that  came 


4IO  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvii. 

into  his  possession  by  marriage.  From  this  he  had  ap- 
pealed, WlIHam  A.  Smith  appearing  for  him.  The  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Baltimore  Conference  were  read  by  the 
secretary.  It  was  shown  that  the  matter  had  been  re- 
ferred to  a  committee  of  five,  which  reported  that  Harding 
had  become  possessed  of  five  slaves.  The  committee  rec- 
ommended that  "  Whereas,  The  Baltimore  Conference 
cannot  and  will  not  tolerate  slavery  in  any  of  its  members, 
that  Brother  Harding  be  required  to  execute  a  deed  of 
manumission,  and  have  the  same  enrolled  in  a  proper  court, 
and  give  to  this  conference  during  the  present  session  a 
pledge  that  this  shall  be  done  during  the  present  year." 

Harding  stated  that  he  could  not  comply,  and  the  mat- 
ter was  referred  to  a  committee,  which  reported  that  it  could 
not  induce  him  to  do  so.  It  was  then  resolved  "  that  Bro- 
ther Harding  be  suspended  until  the  next  Annual  Confer- 
ence, or  until  he  shall  assure  the  episcopacy  that  he  has 
taken  the  necessary  steps  to  secure  the  freedom  of  his 
slaves." 

The  General  Conference  voted  to  admit  the  appeal. 
Smith  began  his  plea  by  declaring  himself  to  be  an  anti- 
slavery  man,  but  not  an  abolitionist  in  any  sense  of  the 
word.  He  then  furnished  evidence  that  it  was  impossible 
for  Harding  to  either  sell  or  liberate  these  slaves;  that 
neither  he  nor  his  wife,  conjointly  or  separately,  could 
manumit  them  by  deed  or  otherwise.  In  the  course  of  his 
very  able  speech,  he  quoted  Judge  Key  upon  the  laws  of 
Maryland,  and  also  said,  "  Now  we  of  the  South  take  both 
sides  of  the  question  :  slavery  is  a  great  evil ;  it  is  not  nec- 
essarily a  sin." 

Collins  impeached  the  correctness  of  Judge  Key's  repre- 
sentation. He  proved  that  Blake,  one  of  those  accused  be- 
fore the  Annual  Conference,  had  manumitted  his  boy  in 
compliance  with  the  rule  of  the  conference  ;  maintained  that 


APPEAL    OF  HARDING.  4 1  1 

the  Discipline  had  been  violated  by  Harding ;  that  he  en- 
tered into  this  difficulty  voluntarily  with  his  eyes  open  ;  that 
by  becoming  a  slave-holder  he  rendered  himself  unavail- 
able to  the  Baltimore  Conference  as  a  traveling  preacher, 
and  had  violated  the  position  which  the  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence had  always  taken. 

After  others  had  participated  Collins  by  consent  of  his 
opponent  supplemented  his  former  remarks,  and  Smith 
made  an  elaborate  reply.  At  the  close  of  the  discussion 
Early,  of  the  Virginia  Conference,  moved  that  the  deci- 
sion be  reversed.  When  the  final  vote  was  counted  there 
were  one  hundred  and  seventeen  nays  and  fifty-six  yeas, 
and  Bishop  Morris  announced  that  the  decision  of  the  Bal- 
timore Conference  was  affirmed.  Capers  took  an  appeal, 
but  the  chair  was  sustained  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and 
eleven  to  fifty-three. 

The  division  was  portentous.  But  two  votes  from  South- 
ern States  were  cast  in  favor  of  affirming  the  decision  of 
the  Baltimore  Conference,  one  from  Texas  and  the  other 
from  Missouri.  Among  the  fifty-six  who  voted  to  reverse 
the  action  of  the  Baltimore  Conference  were  one  from  the 
Rock  River  and  three  from  Illinois,  including  the  famous 
Peter  Akers.  The  Philadelphia  Conference  divided,  three 
voting  to  reverse  and  two  to  Sustain.  The  New  Jersey 
divided,  three  voting  to  sustain,  two  to  reverse.  But  the 
New  York,  New  England,  Providence,  Maine,  New  Hamp- 
shire, Troy,  Black  River,  Oneida,  Genesee,  Erie,  Pittsburg, 
Ohio,  North  Ohio,  Michigan,  Indiana,  and  Baltimore  voted 
unanimously  to  sustain  the  action  of  the  Baltimore  Con- 
ference;  and  the  Kentucky,  Holston,  Tennessee,  Mem- 
phis, Arkansas,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Georgia,  Virginia, 
South  Carolina,  and  North  Carolina  voted  unanimously 
the  other  way,  with  three  of  the  four  from  Missouri,  and 
one  of  the  two  from  Texas. 


412  THE  METHODISTS.  [Ciiai.  x\  ii. 

Collins  presented  the  following  preamble  arkd  resolution 
on  the  20th  of  May : 

"Whereas,  It  is  currently  reported  and  generally 
understood  that  one  of  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  become  connected  with  slavery ; 
and  Whereas,  It  is  due  to  the  General  Conference  to 
have  a  proper  understanding  of  the  matter;  therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  the  Episcopacy  be 
instructed  to  ascertain  the  facts  in  the  case,  and  report 
the  result  of  their  investigation  to  this  body  to-morrow 
morning." 

On  the  22d  of  May,  Report  No.  3  of  the  Committee  on 
Episcopacy  was  read : 

"  The  Committee  on  Episcopacy,  to  whom  was  referred 
a  resolution,  submitted  yesterday,  instructing  them  to 
inquire  whether  any  one  of  the  superintendents  is  con- 
nected with  slavery,  beg  leave  to  present  the  following  as 
their  report  on  the  subject. 

"  The  committee  had  ascertained  previous  to  the  refer- 
ence of  the  resolution  that  Bishop  Andrew  is  connected 
with  slavery,  and  had  obtained  an  interview  with  him  on 
the  subject ;  and,  having  requested  him  to  state  the  whole 
facts  in  the  premises,  hereby  present  a  written  communi- 
cation from  him  in  relation  to  this  matter,  and  beg  leave 
to  offer  it  as  his  statement  and  explanation  of  the  case. 

"  *  To  the  Conniiittee  on  Episcopaey. 

"  '  Dear  Brethren  :  In  reply  to  your  inquiry,  I  sub- 
mit the  following  statement  of  all  the  facts  bearing  on  my 
connection  with  slavery.  Several  years  since  an  old  lady 
of  Augusta,  Ga.,  bequeathed  to  me  a  mulatto  girl,  in  trust 
that  I  should  take  care  of  her  until  she  should  be  nineteen 
years  of  age ;  that  ivitJi  her  eonsent  I  should  then  send  her 


CASE    OF  BISHOP  ANDREW  OPENED.  413 

to  Liberia ;  and  that,  in  case  of  her  refusal,  I  should  keep 
her  and  make  her  as  free  as  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Geor- 
gia would  permit.  When  the  time  arrived  she  refused  to 
go  to  Liberia,  and  of  her  own  choice  remains  legally  my 
slave,  although  I  derive  no  pecuniary  profit  from  her.  She 
continues  to  live  in  her  own  house  on  my  lot,  and  has 
been  and  is  at  present  at  perfect  liberty  to  go  to  a  free 
State  at  her  pleasure ;  but  the  laws  of  the  State  will  not 
permit  her  emancipation,  nor  admit  such  deed  of  emanci- 
pation to  record,  and  she  refuses  to  leave  the  State.  In 
her  case,  therefore,  I  have  been  made  a  slave-holder  le- 
gally, but  not  with  my  own  consent. 

"  '  Secondly.  About  five  years  since  the  mother  of  my 
former  wife  left  to  her  daughter,  not  to  me,  a  negro  boy ; 
and,  as  my  wife  died  without  a  will  more  than  two  years 
since,  by  the  laws  of  the  State  he  becomes  legally  my 
property.  In  this  case,  as  in  the  former,  emancipation  is 
impracticable  in  the  State ;  but  he  shall  be  at  liberty  to 
leave  the  State  whenever  I  shall  be  satisfied  that  he  is 
prepared  to  provide  for  himself,  or  I  can  have  sufficient 
security  that  he  will  be  protected  and  provided  for  in  the 
place  to  which  he  may  go. 

"  '  Thirdly.  In  the  month  of  January  last  I  married  my 
present  wife,  she  being  at  the  time  possessed  of  slaves,  in- 
herited from  her  former  husband's  estate,  and  belonging 
to  her.  Shortly  after  my  marriage,  being  unwilling  to 
become  their  owner,  regarding  them  as  strictly  hers,  and 
the  law  not  permitting  their  emancipation,  I  secured  them 
to  her  by  a  deed  of  trust. 

"  '  It  will  be  obvious  to  you,  from  the  above  statement 
of  facts,  that  I  have  neither  bought  nor  sold  a  slave ;  that 
in  the  only  two  instances  in  which  I  am  legally  a  slave- 
holder emancipation  is  impracticable.  As  to  the  servants 
owned  by  my  wife,  I   have  no  legal  responsibility  in  the 


414  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvii. 

premises,  nor  could  my  wife  emancipate  them  if  she  de- 
sired to  do  so.  I  have  thus  plainly  stated  all  the  facts  in 
the  case,  and  submit  the  statement  for  the  consideration 
of  the  General  Conference. 

" '  Yours  respectfully, 

"'James  O.  Andrew.' 
"  All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

"  Robert  Paine,  Chair juan.'" 

Griffith,  seconded  by  Davis,  both  of  the  Baltimore  Con- 
ference, offered  the  following  preamble  and  resolution : 

"  Whereas,  The  Rev.  James  O.  Andrew,  one  of  the 
bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  has  become 
connected  with  slavery,  as  communicated  in  his  statement 
in  his  reply  to  the  inquiry  of  the  Committee  on  the  Epis- 
copacy, which  reply  is  embodied  in  their  Report  No.  3, 
offered  yesterday ;  and  Whereas,  It  has  been,  from  the 
origin  of  said  church,  a  settled  policy  and  the  invariable 
usage  to  elect  no  person  to  the  office  of  bishop  who  was 
embarrassed  with  this  *  great  evil,'  as  under  such  circum- 
stances it  would  be  impossible  for  a  bishop  to  exercise  the 
functions  and  perform  the  duties  assigned  to  a  general 
superintendent  with  acceptance  in  that  large  portion  of 
his  charge  in  which  slavery  does  not  exist ;  and  WHEREAS, 
Bishop  Andrew  was  himself  nominated  by  our  brethren 
of  the  slave-holding  States,  and  elected  by  the  General 
Conference  of  1832,  as  a  candidate  who,  though  living 
in  the  midst  of  a  slave-holding  population,  was  neverthe- 
less free  from  all  personal  connection  with  slavery  ;  and 
Whereas,  This  is,  of  all  periods  in  our  history  as  a  church, 
the  one  least  favorable  to  such  an  innovation  upon  the 
practice  and  usage  of  Methodism  as  to  confide  a  part  of 
the  itinerant  general  superintendency  to  a  slave-holder; 
therefore, 


GRIFFITH'S  RESOLUTION.  415 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Rev.  James  O.  Andrew  be,  and  he 
is  hereby,  affectionately  requested  to  resign  his  office  as 
one  of  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church."  ^ 

Collins  moved  that  the  report  be  laid  on  the  table,  to  be 
taken  up  the  next  day,  as  a  meeting  of  the  Northern  dele- 
gates was  to  be  held  at  four  that  afternoon,  to  which  he 
invited  any  of  the  Southern  brethren  who  might  wish  to 
attend.  Capers  said  this  was  not  an  announcement  in 
order,  but  he  would  take  the  opportunity  to  announce  that 
there  would  be  a  meeting  of  the  Southern  delegates  at 
three  o'clock. 

The  chairman  then  read  a  paper  which  had  been  brought 
to  the  table : 

"  To  the  President. 

"Rev.  AND  DEAR  Sir:  A  report  has  been  in  circulation 
for  some  days  which  is  thought  to  have  a  very  unhappy 
effect  on  this  conference.  The  report  is  that  a  plan  has 
been  formed  by  Northern  members  of  the  conference  to 
force  the  South  into  secession,  and  I  have  been  given  as 
authority  for  this  statement.  So  far  as  I  am  concerned, 
the  allegation  is  wholly  and  unqualifiedly  untrue.  I  pro- 
pose, with  your  permission,  to  contradict  it  with  a  view  to 
promote  peace. 

"  Yours  truly, 

"Thomas  E.  Bond." 


Bond  disclaimed  all  knowledge  of  such  a  plan.  Sehon, 
of  Ohio,  disavowed  for  himself  and  the  section  which 
he  represented  all  connection ;  Bangs,  of  New  York,  fol- 
lowed in  a  similar  strain ;  and  Smith,  of  Virginia,  denied 

1  "  Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1844,"  pp.  63,  64. 


4l6  THE   METHODISTS.  [fiiAP.  xvii. 

that  he  was  personally  implicated  in  any  allusions  which 
had  been  made. 

In  speaking  in  favor  of  his  resolution,  Griffith  made  the 
point  that  Andrew  had  by  a  voluntary  choice  placed  him- 
self in  a  position  to  embarrass  himself  by  circumstances 
that  rendered  it  impracticable  to  discharge  the  duties  as- 
signed to  him ;  that  this  was  a  disqualification  and  suffi- 
cient ground  to  ask  him  to  resign. 

The  preamble  of  the  resolution  was  changed  without  al- 
tering the  sense,  and  at  this  point  Bishop  Soule  made  an 
address.  He  declared  himself  willing  to  be  immolated, 
exclaiming,  "  I  can  be  immolated  only  on  one  altar,  and 
that  is  the  altar  of  the  union  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  You  cannot,  all  the  powers  of  earth  cannot,  im- 
molate me  upon  a  Northern  altar  or  a  Southern  altar." 
He  reminded  the  body  that  they  were  before  several  tri- 
bunals :  the  galleries,  the  Christian  churches  of  our  own 
land,  the  whole  body  of  ministers  and  people  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  public  opinion,  statesmen, 
civilians,  and  jurists.  He  besought  them  to  deliver  their 
arguments  in  soft  words,  implored  them  not  to  raise  their 
voices  so  as  to  be  heard  in  the  street,  and  to  avoid  all  re- 
flection upon  one  another. 

Sandford,  of  New  York,  assumed  the  right  of  the  con- 
ference to  make  this  request  of  Andrew  to  resign,  and 
confined  himself  to  the  discussion  of  the  expediency. 
Winans,  of  Mississippi,  referring  to  the  request  of  the 
senior  bishop  to  be  calm,  said  that  he  was  calm,  even  if 
it  was  "the  calmness  of  despair."  He  admitted  that  he 
was  "  not  prepared  to  deny  that  the  conference  had  an 
abstract  right,  with  or  without  cause,  to  request  any 
member  of  that  body  to  retire  from  the  episcopacy,"  or 
that  any  member  had  the  right  to  argue  in  favor  of  the 
propriety  of  such  a  request.     He  said  that  in  1832  a  slave- 


D I VI  SI  ox   Of   THE    CHURCH  PREDICTED.  417 

holder  would  have  been  elected  to  the  office  of  bishop 
had  it  not  been  for  the  management  and  trickery  of  certain 
members  of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  and  charged  that 
Pickering,  of  New  England,  nominated  a  man  to  the  office 
who  was  known  to  be  a  slave-holder.  Pickering  rose  to 
deny  it. 

Winans  said,  "  I  say  that  by  this  vote  you  will  render  it 
indispensably,  uncontrollably  necessary  that  that  portion 
of  the  church  should — I  dread  to  pronounce  the  word,  but 
you  understand  me.  Yes,  sir;  you  create  an  uncontrolla- 
ble necessity  that  there  should  be  a  disconnection  of  that 
large  portion  of  the  church  from  your  body.  ...  If  you 
pass  this  action  in  the  mildest  form  in  which  you  can  ap- 
proach the  bishop,  you  will  throw  every  minister  in  the 
South  Jiors  dc  combat;  you  will  cut  us  off  from  all  connec- 
tion with  masters  and  servants,  and  will  leave  us  no  option- 
— God  is  my  witness  that  I  speak  with  all  sincerity  of 
purpose  toward  you — but  to  be  disconnected  with  your 
body." 

Bowen,  of  the  Oneida  Conference,  made  a  brief  speech 
in  favor  of  the  resolution. 

Lovick  Pierce  indorsed  Winans.  This  venerable  man 
exclaimed,  "  There  is  but  one  man  older  than  myself  in 
the  land  I  live  in  who  is  now  in  the  ministry,  and  he  is  at 
present  an  inefficient  man.  I  never  wedded  my  heart  to 
m}^  family  with  less  desires  that  this  wedlock  should  be 
ruptured,  than  I  did  to  the  church  which  found  me  a  sin- 
ner and,  I  hope,  through  God's  grace  will  land  me  in 
heaven."  He  declared  that  no  question  had  ever  done  so 
much  harm  in  the  South  as  the  intermeddling  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  with  slavery,  and  exclaimed, 
"  Could  the  cap  of  hell  be  lifted  to-day,  I  fear  that  the 
groans  of  many  damned  would  be  heard  coming  up,  and 
dating  the  ground  of  their  fall  from  the  merciless  act   of 


4l8  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai.  xvii. 

the  church  against  a  free  constitution  and  the  laws  of  the 
land."     He  pronounced  against  the  resolution. 

Berryman,  of  Missouri,  opposed  it  on  the  ground  that  it 
had  no  sanction  in  the  Discipline. 

Coleman,  of  Troy,  would  vote  for  it,  but  would  not  wish 
to  be  considered  an  enemy  to  his  Southern  brethren.  He 
had  opposed  abolitionism  from  the  foundation,  but  thought 
that  the  step  taken  by  Bishop  Andrew  was  "wonderfully 
unfortunate." 

Smith,  of  Virginia,  corrected  Coleman  concerning  his 
views  of  what  he  (Coleman)  and  others  had  done  in  behalf 
of  the  Southern  brethren  by  fighting  abolitionism. 

Stringfield,  of  Holston,  opposed  the  resolution  on  the 
ground  of  indirection,  and  on  the  further  ground  that  it 
was  inexpedient,  "  for  if  Bishop  Andrew  be  shuffled  out 
of  office,  some  one  must  be  elected  to  fill  his  place,  and, 
whoever  he  might  be,  he  would  meet  with  as  little  favor 
in  the  South  as  Andrew  would,  with  all  his  disabilities,  in 
the  North." 

Crowder,  of  Virginia,  endeavored  to  show  that  no  good 
result  could  follow  from  the  resignation  of  Bishop  Andrew, 
and  solemnly  predicted  that  "  the  division  of  our  church 
might  follow,  a  civil  division  of  this  great  confederacy 
may  follow  that,  and  then  hearts  will  be  torn  apart,  master 
and  slave  arrayed  against  each  other,  brother  in  the  church 
against  brother,  and  the  North  against  the  South ;  and 
when  thus  arrayed,  with  the  fiercest  passions  and  energies 
of  our  nature  brought  into  action  against  each  other,  civil 
war  and  far-reaching  desolation  must  be  the  final  results. 
My  brethren,  are  you  prepared  for  this?  No;  I  am  sure 
you  are  not.  Then  refuse  to  pass  the  resolution  now 
pending." 

Spencer,  of  Pittsburg,  replied  to  the  argument  that  the 
present  action  was  novel  by  saying  that  the  situation  was 


A    STARTLING   SUPPOSITION.  419 

novel ;  he  would  expose  by  an  illustration  the  pretense 
that  the  bishop  ought  not  to  be  asked  to  resign  merely 
because  there  was  no  rule  for  it  in  the  Discipline : 
"  Suppose  that,  instead  of  marrying  a  respectable  lady 
owning  slaves,  Bishop  Andrew  had  married  a  colored 
woman.  Would  Southern  or  Northern  brethren  say  either 
that  he  had  broken  an  express  rule  of  Discipline  or  that 
he  would  nevertheless  be  well  qualified  for  a  bishop  in 
our  church?  Neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  They 
doubtless  would  depose  him  at  once,  though  there  is  no 
rule  to  be  found  declaring  in  so  many  words  that  no  white 
man  shall  marry  a  colored  woman  on  pain  of  degradation." 
Nathan  Bangs  replied  to  Winans,  declaring  that  he  never 
heard  from  any  Northern  man  that  he  was  willing  to  vote 
for  a  slave-holding  bishop;  that  he  was  never  in  a  caucus 
to  nominate  bishops,  but  he  had  heard  from  the  mover 
of  this  resolution  that,  in  1832,  the  Baltimore  Conference 
sent  a  committee  to  wait  on  a  slave-holder  from  the  South 
and  ask  him  "if  he  was  willing  to  emancipate  his  slaves  if 
they  would  nominate  him.  He  very  courteously  and  in  a 
Christian  spirit  took  time  to  deliberate,  and  eventually  told 
them  he  could  not  do  it,  and  that  was  the  reason  why  they 
dechned  to  nominate  him.  Did  that  look  hke  nominating 
a  slave-holder  to  the  episcopacy?  And  they  nominated 
James  O.  Andrew  because  he  was  not  a  slave-holder," 
Bangs  said  that  anything  that  would  disqualify  a  man  for 
the  office  of  bishop  was  fit  ground  for  the  action  of  that 
conference ;  that  he  would  say  that  "  if  any  man  said  that 
every  man  who  holds  a  slave  sins  in  so  doing,  that 
would  be  a  disquaHfication,.  and  also  to  enter  upon  the 
possession  of  slaves  would  unfit  a  man  for  it."  He  af- 
firmed that  he  did  not  touch  the  moral  character  of  An- 
drew at  all,  but  that  he  had  acted  imprudently  and  there- 
fore should  resign. 


420  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvii. 

Capers  rose  and  denied  distinctly  wliat  Bangs  had  said, 
and  claimed  the  right  to  refer  to  it  when  he  should  speak. 
He  explained  that  no  one  had  ever  proposed  to  him  to 
emancipate  his  slaves,  but  that  he  was  urged  to  accept  this 
appointment,  and  mentioned  his  circumstances  with  regard 
to  slavery ;  that  he  hafl  constantly  opposed  the  use  of  his 
name  and  favored  Bishop  Andrew. 

Winans  asked  Davis,  of  Baltimore,  if  it  was  not  wnthin  his 
knowledge  that  for  several  months  before  the  General 
Conference  of  1832  arrangements  were  being  made  to  se- 
cure the  election  of  a  Southern  non-sla\e-holding  man. 
Davis  declared  it  was  the  first  time  he  ever  heard  of  it. 
Winans  thought  he  could  present  twenty  witnesses  to  prove 
the  affirmation.  Various  other  personal  explanations  were 
given,  until  Bishop  Soule  respectfully  advised  the  brethren 
not  to  refer  to  individual  words  or  private  transactions. 

J.  B.  Finley  and  J.  M.  Trimble,  of  Ohio,  moved  as  a 
substitute  for  the  resolutions  the  following : 

"Whereas,  The  Discipline  of  our  church  forbids  the 
doing  anything  calculated  to  destroy  our  itinerant  general 
superintendency ;  and  WHEREAS,  Bishop  Andrew  has  be- 
come connected  with  slavery  by  marriage  and  otherwise, 
and  this  act  having  drawn  after  it  circumstances  which,  in 
the  estimation  of  the  General  Conference,  will  greatly  em- 
barrass the  exercise  of  his  ofifice  as  an  itinerant  general 
superintendent,  if  not  in  some  places  entirely  prevent  it ; 
therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  General  Conference 
that  he  desist  from  the  exercise  of  this  office  so  long  as 
this  impediment  remains." 

Stephen  Olin  addressed  the  conference  upon  this  sub- 
stitute. After  considering  the  subject  generally  he  said,  "  If 
ever  there  was  a  man  worthy  to  fill  the  episcopal  office  by 
his  disinterestedness,  his  love  of  the  church,  his  ardent, 


A    PECULIAR  EXPEDIENT.  42 1 

melting-  sympathy  for  all  the  interests  of  humanity,  but, 
above  all,  for  his  uncompromising  and  unreserved  advocacy 
of  the  interest  of  the  slave — if  these  are  qualifications  for 
the  office  of  a  bishop,  then  James  O.  Andrew  is  preemi- 
nently fitted  to  hold  that  office.  ...  If  I  had  a  hundred 
votes,  and  Bishop  Andrew  were  not  embarrassed  by  these 
difficulties,  ...  he  is  the  man  to  whom  I  would  give 
them  all."  He  discussed  the  whole  subject  and  argued  in 
favor  of  the  substitute  as  a  constitutional  measure,  dis- 
honorable to  no  one,  unjust  to  no  one,  and  that  it  should  be 
adopted  and  sent  forth  with  the  solemn  declaration  of  the 
conference  that  it  was  not  designed  as  a  punishment  or  a 
censure,  but  merely  as  a  prudential  and  expedient  meas- 
ure, calculated  to  avert  great  evils. 

Drake,  of  Mississippi,  commended  the  spirit  of  Olin, 
but  maintained  that  in  no  vital  principle  did  the  substitute 
differ  from  the  original  resolution,  though  in  the  preamble 
he  thought  it  preferable.  He  then  suggested  a  resolution 
that: 

"Whereas,  There  have  been  found  difficulties  of  a  seri- 
ous nature  in  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  exercising  a  general  superintendency  ;  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  the  General  Conference  recommend  to 
the  episcopacy  to  assign  to  each  superintendent  his  sphere 
of  labor  for  the  next  four  years." 

Sheer,  of  Baltimore,  supported  the  Finley  and  Trimble 
substitute  as  milder  than  the  original  resolution. 

Crandall,  of  New  England,  said  that  he  would  have  voted 
for  the  substitute  but  for  the  unfortunate  speeches  that 
had  been  made.  He  did  not  agree  with  Olin  that  the 
Southern  brethren  had  a  constitutional  right  to  hold  slaves. 
Olin  subsequently  said  that  he  used  the  term  "  constitu- 
tion "  to  mean  the  whole  Discipline. 

Cass,  of  New  Hampshire,  delivered  a  radical  speech  in 


422  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai>.  xvii. 

favor  of  abolitionism  ;  quoted  Wesley  thus  :  "  Man-buyers 
are  exactly  on  a  level  with  man-stealers.  But  perhaps 
you  will  say,  I  do  not  buy  any  negroes ;  I  only  use  those 
left  me  by  my  father.  So  far  very  good.  But  is  it  enough 
to  satisfy  your  conscience?  ...  I  strike  at  the  root  of 
this  complicated  villainy.  I  absolutely  deny  all  slave-hold- 
ing to  be  consistent  with  any  degree  of  justice." 

At  this  point  he  was  interrupted  by  a  vote  giving  Early 
liberty  to  speak  after  he  finished.  The  admission  of  this 
interruption  and  vote  Cass  declared  to  be  "  contrary  to  all 
rule  and  order."  The  hour  having  arrived,  conference  ad- 
journed, Cass  having  the  floor.  The  next  day,  on  the  re- 
sumption of  the  debate,  he  was  recognized  by  the  presi- 
dent, but  he  said  that  he  had  been  interrupted  in  his  speech 
the  day  before,  and  his  rights  had  been  trampled  upon, 
and  he  had  no  further  speech  to  make. 

Whereupon  George  F.  Pierce,  of  Georgia,  took  the  floor. 
He  charged  the  other  side  with  practicing  legerdemain ; 
"  that  is,  they  stated  abstract  propositions  of  right  which 
no  man  will  pretend  to  deny,  and  then  decided  elaborate 
argumentations,  and  made  them  to  bear  on  conclusions 
with  which  these  conclusions  have  no  more  to  do  than  the 
law  of  the  tides  has  with  the  polar  star."  He  denied  that 
the  argument  of  expediency  had  half  the  force  assigned  to 
it,  and  affirmed  that  whatever  damage  the  passage  of  An- 
drew's character  without  censure,  or  laying  the  whole 
business  on  the  table,  might  have  with  the  New  England 
conferences,  he  was  not  prepared  to  believe  that  any  con- 
siderable damage  would  be  done  in  the  middle  conferences. 
He  charged  that  New  Englanders  were  "  well  described 
by  Paul  as  intermeddlers  with  other  men's  matters." 

He  predicted  when  the  day  of  division  should  come — 
and  from  the  present  aspect  of  the  case  he  believed  it  would 
— that  "  in  ten  years,  perhaps  less,  there  would  not  be  one 


METHODISM  DEFINED.  423 

shred  of  the  distinctive  characteristics  of  Methodism  left 
within  the  conferences  that  depart  from  us.  .  .  .  The 
episcopacy  would  be  given  up,  the  presiding  eldership 
given  up,  the  itinerancy  come  to  an  end,  and  Congrega- 
tionalism be  the  order  of  the  day."  He  said  that  if  the 
New  England  conferences  were  to  secede,  the  rest  would 
live  in  peace. 

Longstreet  followed,  charging  that  the  disturbance  arose 
from  the  idea  that  the  church  was  a  body  corporate,  an 
ecclesiastical  assembly,  and  that  it  had  entered  into  special 
legislation,  wholly  unlike  the  few  and  simple  rules  of  the 
early  church. 

After  a  noble  introduction  on  general  principles,  he  said, 
in  the  matter  of  slavery,  "  I  have  ever  feared  that  you 
would  begin  to  presume  on  your  authority  and  power  to 
operate  reforms,  not  by  the  simple,  blessed  principles  of 
the  gospel,  but  by  your  ideas  of  what  will  best  conduce  to 
the  general  interests  of  Methodism.  What  is  Methodism? 
If  it  be  anything  else  than  the  pure  gospel  religion,  let 
Methodism  go  upon  the  winds  far  from  my  sight.  .  .  . 
Your  rules  about  slavery  have  constituted  you  a  high  court 
of  judicature  of  the  country,  and  made  you  judges  of  all 
the  statute  laws  of  the  States ;  and  now,  whether  you  are 
to  decide  these  questions  in  the  Annual  or  General  Confer- 
ences, or  whether  the  bishop  himself  has  the  prerogative 
of  settling  them,  is  not  yet  decided.  .  .  .  There  is  no  bit- 
terness in  my  heart  toward  the  most  uncompromising 
abolitionist  in  this  assembly.  It  may  be  we  are  in  fault. 
The  truth  is  between  us  somewhere ;  let  us  see  where  it 
lies.  .  .  .  When  Methodism  first  made  its  appearance 
among  us,  she  found  slavery  overspreading  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land.  She  entered  her  protest  against  it, 
and  in  so  doing  she  did  more  than  our  Saviour  or  any 
apostle  ever  did."      He  then  made  an  inventory  of  the 


424  ■    ^'^■^^-"   MliTllODISTS.  [CliAi'.  xvii. 

various  acts  of  legislation  on  the  subject,  and  declared  that 
the  South,  though  not  approving,  had  submitted.  He  de- 
scribes Bishop  Andrew  as  arriving  at  the  conference  and  find- 
ing it  in  commotion  concerning  himself.  "  He  is  pained 
and  agonized.  He  convenes  the  delegates  from  the  slave- 
holding  conferences,  and,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  proposes 
to  resign ;  but  we,  to  a  man,  without  a  dissenting  voice, 
declared  to  him  that  '  if  he  sought  the  peace  of  the  church 
by  that  course,  he  would  be  disappointed  of  his  object ;  for 
that  his  resignation  to  appease  the  clamor  of  the  abolition- 
ists would  but  spread  general  discontent  through  the  whole 
South.  We  cannot  lie  down  and  see  you  deposed.  If  it 
has  come  to  this,  that  being  connected  with  slavery  dis- 
qualifies you,  we  too  are  disqualified.'  "  He  then  turned 
to  those  who  were  advocating  the  resolutions  he  opposed, 
and  said,  "  You  have  generally,  as  far  as  words  go,  treated 
him  with  kindness  ;  but  there  is  an  eloquence  in  action,  and 
a  rebuke — a  kind  of  rebuke  and  collateral  argument  that 
it  requires  no  great  depth  of  wisdom  to  understand,  and 
beneath  which  I  have  seen  our  bishop  cowering  here  during 
all  the  time,  as  one  that  scarcely  has  had  the  privilege  to 
occupy  a  seat  among  you,  and  is  necessarily,  from  his  deli- 
cate position,  for  some  days  driven  from  among  you.  Do 
you  expect  of  us  that  we  shall  bow  in  submission  to  all  this, 
with  no  better  pleas  for  these  measures  than  you  have  set 
up?  Are  we  not  to  be  excused  if,  in  the  ardor  of  feeling, 
we  sometimes  utter  words  incautiously?  Are  we  not  to 
be  excused  if  we  do  not  weigh  our  thoughts  in  golden 
balances?  " 

This  speech,  entirely  apart  from  its  bearing  on  the 
question  under  consideration,  is  one  of  the  ablest  in 
the  history  of  ecclesiastical  debate.  The  reporter  gives 
two  pages  and  a  half,  and  summarizes  the  rest.  Accord- 
ing to  the  account,  he  showed  that  the  proposed  action 


NEIV  ENGLAND  EULOGIZED.  425 

must  necessarily  result  in  the  separation  of  the  North  and 
South. 

J.  T.  Peck  replied  to  G.  F.  Pierce,  point  by  point,  dwelling 
particularly  upon  his  statement  that  he  wished  New  Eng- 
land might  secede.  He  uttered  a  passage  similar  in  the 
character  of  its  references  to  Webster's  famous  defense  of 
Massachusetts,  exclaiming,  "  No,  sir,  we  cannot  part  so 
easily  with  the  pioneer  land  of  the  devoted  and  sainted 
Jesse  Lee!"  He  closed  in  a  persuasive  strain:  "Let  the 
South  go?  No,  sir,  we  cannot  part  with  our  brethren 
whom  we  love  so  well.  True,  we  cannot  compromise 
principle  to  save  them — nor  to  save  the  East.  .  .  .  We 
will  not  let  them  go  unless  they  tear  themselves  from  our 
arms  bedewed  with  the  tears  of  affection.  Never/  no, 
never  I ' ' 

Resuming  the  next  day,  he  deprecated  the  remarks  of 
Pierce  with  regard  to  a  division,  apologized  for  the  warmth 
and  emotion  with  which  he  had  defended  New  England, 
but  continued  at  some  length  in  the  same  strain. 

Pierce  responded  in  a  humorous  vein. 

Green,  of  Tennessee,  deplored  the  remarks  about  division ; 
said  that  he  was  not  an  orator,  lawyer,  professor,  presi- 
dent of  a  college,  nor  a  doctor,  but  simply  a  humble  Meth- 
odist preacher.  Nevertheless  he  claimed  to  understand 
the  Methodist  Discipline.  He  showed  that  it  was  an  as- 
sumption that  a  slave-holder  could  not  have  been  elected 
bishop  in  1832  ;  affirmed  that  we  came  within  one  vote  of 
electing  such  at  one  time,  and  spoke  long  and  forcefully, 
stating  that  he  hung  over  McKendree  in  his  dying  hours, 
and  snatched  from  his  lips  the  motto,  "  All  is  well."  He 
described  McKendree  as  a  diamond  of  the  first  water,  and 
said  that  his  robes  were  pure  and  clean  as  the  mountain 
snow.  Green  informed  the  conference  that  McKendree 
had  at  one  time  determined  to  buy  a  black  boy  to  wait  upon 


426  THE   METHODISTS.  [CnAi".  xvii. 

him,  but  was  dissuaded  from  doing  so  by  E.  Bodie,  Esq., 
of  Tennessee,  and  himself,  on  the  ground  that  "  if  he  owned 
the  boy  he  would  not  obey  him  more  readily  than  if  he 
belonged  to  another."  He  closed  by  declaring  that  in  the 
South  Bishop  Andrew's  name  was  enrolled  above  all  Meth- 
odist names,  and  with  respect  to  those  who,  though  they 
said  that  he  was  no  sinner  and  had  violated  no  law,  yet 
were  striving  to  pass  this  resolution,  he  felt  as  though  they 
said,  "  Here,  take  Bishop  Andrew  and  crucify  him,  for  I 
find  no  fault  in  him." 

On  Monday,  May  27th,  Hamline,  of  Ohio,  took  the  floor 
to  discuss  two  questions :  Has  the  General  Conference 
constitutional  authority  to  pass  this  resolution  ?  Is  it  ap- 
propriate and  fitting"  that  it  should  do  so?  He  argued  in 
support  of  the  authority  from  the  genius  of  Methodist  pol- 
icy on  points  which  the  most  nearly  resemble  it,  showing 
that,  from  the  class-leader  upward,  amenability  regards  not 
only  major  but  minor  morals — not  only  vices  but  also  im- 
proprieties of  behavior.  Second,  he  showed  the  superiority 
of  the  General  Conference  to  the  episcopacy,  contending 
for  its  legislative  and  judicial  functions,  and  then  proceed- 
ing to  its  executive,  affirming  that  these  are  supreme  or 
all-controlling;  that  the  General  Conference  is  the  foun- 
dation of  all  official,  executive  authority.  He  drew  a  dis- 
tinction between  the  constitution  of  the  church  and  that 
of  the  United  States,  and  in  concluding  admitted  that  a 
minister  could  not  be  summarily  removed  from  the  minis- 
try, but  must  have  a  trial  in  due  form  ;  that  the  episcopacy 
was  an  office  and  not  an  order,  therefore  a  bishop  could  be 
summarily  removed  for  an  impropriety.  Upon  the  subject 
of  expediency  he  spoke  but  a  few  moments,  showing  the 
nature  of  a  bishop's  influence.  Estimated  by  the  clearness 
of  its  statements,  the  beauty  and  propriety  of  its  language, 
close  adherence  to  its  many  points,  relevancy,  and  the  eff^ect 


HAM  LINE  EXPLAINS  HIS  PREVIOUS    WORDS.      427 

it  produced,  this  address  must  be  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  persuasive  in  the  history  of  forensic  debate.  The  re- 
port of  it,  however,  contains  indubitable  evidence  that  it 
was  printed  from  the  author's  manuscript,  or  from  notes 
subsequently  furnished  by  him,  or  had  been  thoroughly 
revised  after  delivery,  which  is  not  the  case  with  a  large 
majority  of  the  speeches. 

Comfort,  of  Oneida,  spoke  briefly,  building  an  argu- 
ment on  the  ground  that  under  certain  circumstances  a 
bishop  cannot  exercise  the  episcopal  office  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  General  Conference. 

William  A.  Smith,  of  Virginia,  devoted  himself  to  prov- 
ing that  Andrew  had  not  acted  improperly  and  had  not 
violated  the  settled  policy  of  the  church ;  that  his  pres- 
ent position  was  not  a  violation  of  good  faith  ;  that  the 
constitutional  feature  of  the  episcopacy  did  not  require 
Andrew  to  desist  from  the  duties  of  his  office ;  that  the 
adoption  of  either  the  substitute  or  the  original  resolution 
would  be  prescriptive,  that  it  would  close  the  door  of  use- 
fulness to  a  large  portion  of  the  colored  population,  and 
would  necessitate  a  division  of  the  church.  He  main- 
tained that  the  General  Conference  had  no  right  directly 
to  evoke  a  separation,  but  that  the  subject  should  be  sent 
back  to  the  membership  of  the  church,  who  must  be  con- 
sulted and  whose  voice  must  be  regarded  as  an  authorita- 
tive decision.  He  affirmed  that  this  subject  could  be  de- 
cided without  any  regard  to  a  civil  war.  "  Nothing  can  be 
more  absurd.  Christian  nations  cannot  fall  upon  measures 
of  this  sort."      Differences  must  be  settled  by  negotiation. 

At  the  close  Hamline  arose  to  correct  Smith,  and  in  so 
doing  uttered  a  very  important  passage : 

"  I  never  said,  as  Brother  Smith  affirms,  that  the  admin- 
istrative powers  of  this  conference  are  absolute.  I  said 
they  were  supreme.     *  Absolute  '  means  not  bound.     This 


428  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvii. 

conference  is  bound  in  all  its  powers,  whether  legislative, 
judicial,  or  executive,  by  constitutional  restrictions.  '  Su- 
preme '  means  that,  while  acting  within  its  constitutional 
limits,  its  decisions  are  final  and  all-controlling." 

Collins  replied  to  Longstreet,  Capers,  and  others,  and 
submitted  a  compromise  resolution  : 

"  Whereas,  The  Rev.  James  O.  Andrew,  one  of  the 
bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  has  become 
connected  with  slavery  by  marriage  and  otherwise ;  and 
Whereas,  A  large  portion  of  our  ministry  and  member- 
ship in  many  of  the  Annual  Conferences  are  known  to  have 
been  always  opposed  to  the  election  of  a  slave-holding 
bishop,  believing  that  such  an  event  is  in  contravention  of 
the  Discipline,  which  contemplates  the  episcopacy  as  an 
'  itinerant  general  superintendency,'  and  calculated  also  to 
strengthen  the  bonds  of  slavery ;  and  Whereas,  The 
peace  and  unity  of  the  church  in  the  non-slave-holding 
conferences  will  be  liable  to  serious  interruption  from  the 
connection  of  Bishop  Andrew  with  slavery,  without  some 
definite  action  of  the  General  Conference  in  relation  to  it ; 
therefore, 

"  I.  Resolved,  That  the  members  of  this  General  Con- 
ference are  constrained  to  express  their  profound  regret 
that  Rev.  James  O.  Andrew,  one  of  the  general  superin- 
tendents, has  become  connected  with  slavery,  in  view  of 
the  fact  that  while  thus  circumstanced  he  cannot  perform 
the  duties  of  his  office  acceptably  to  a  large  portion  of  the 
ministers  and  members  of  our  church. 

"  2.  Resolved,  That  Bishop  Andrew  be,  and  he  hereby 
is,  affectionately  and  earnestly  requested  to  take  the  nec- 
essary measures  to  free  himself  from  connection  with  slav- 
ery at  the  earliest  period  practicable  within  the  ensuing 
four  years. 

"  3.   Resolved,  That  all  the  matterpertaining  to  the  appeal 


IMPASSIONED  ADDRESS   OF  ANDREW.  429 

of  Rev.  Silas  Comfort,  tried  at  the  session  of  the  General 
Conference  in  1840,  be  erased  from  the  Journal." 

After  this  Bishop  Andrew,  under  powerful  emotion,  de- 
livered an  address. 

He  spoke  of  his  feelings  during  the  trial,  which  had 
lasted  more  than  a  week,  and  said  that,  though  he  had 
"felt,  and  felt  deeply,"  he  was  "not  offended  with  any 
man  "  ;  and  did  "  not  quarrel  with  his  abolition  brethren," 
though  believing  "  their  opinions  to  be  erroneous  and 
mischievous."  He  gave  an  account  of  the  circumstances 
of  his  election,  stating  that  he  objected  to  permit  himself 
to  be  put  in  nomination  for  the  oflfice,  which  had  no 
charms  for  him,  as  he  was  in  a  conference  which  he 
loved,  and  had  nothing  to  gain  by  separation  from  a 
happy  home.  But  on  "  being  urged,  in  the  interest  of  the 
peace  of  the  church  and  of  the  prosperity  of  Methodism 
in  the  South,"  he  "  consented,  with  the  hope  of  failure." 
He  was  never  asked  if  he  was  a  slave-holder,  nor  what  his 
principles  were  upon  the  subject.  "  No  one  dared  to  ask 
of  him  a  pledge  in  this  matter,  or  it  would  have  been  met 
as  it  deserved."  He  took  ofifice  upon  the  law  of  the 
church  as  contained  in  the  book  of  Discipline;  and  said, 
"  I  believe  my  case  is  covered  by  it.  It  was  known  that  I 
was  to  reside  in  the  South ;  I  was  elected  in  view  of  that 
very  thing.  .  .  .  Well,  what  was  I  to  do,  then?  I  was 
elected  in  a  country  where  free  persons  could  not  be  ob- 
tained for  hire ;  and  I  could  not  do  the  work  of  the  family 
• — my  wife  could  not  do  it.  I  was  compelled  to  hire 
slaves  and  pay  their  masters,  but  had  to  change  them 
every  year  because  they  were  bad  servants,  having  no 
interest  in  me  or  mine.  I  believe  it  would  have  been 
less  sin  before  God  to  have  bought  a  servant  who 
would  have  taken  an  interest  in  me  and  I  in  him  ;  but 
I  did  not  do  so.      At  length,  however,  I  came  into  the 


430  THE  iMETIIODIsrS.  [Chap.  xvii. 

possession  of  slaves ;  and  I  am  a  slave-holder,  .  .  .  and 
I  cannot  help  myself."  He  gave  an  account  of  his  second 
marriage  and  the  manner  in  which  he  came  into  the  pos- 
session of  slaves,  and  proceeded,  "  Sir,  I  have  no  pledge 
to  make.  It  has  been  said  I  did  this  thing  voluntarily  and 
with  my  eyes  open.  I  did  so  deliberately  and  in  the  fear 
of  God,  and  God  has  blessed  our  union."  He  showed  why 
he  would  not  deed  those  slaves  to  his  wife  before  mar- 
riage, or  let  his  wife  make  them  over  to  her  children. 
"  Sir,"  said  he,  "  my  conscience  would  not  allow  me  to  du 
this  thing.  If  I  had  done  so,  and  those  negroes  should 
have  passed  into  the  hands  of  those  who  would  treat  them 
unkindly,  I  should  have  been  unhappy.  Strange  as  it 
may  seem  to  brethren,  I  am  a  slave-holder  for  conscience' 
sake."  His  wife  would  consent  to  manumit  them  if  he 
deemed  it  proper,  but  how  could  he  free  them?  Some 
were  too  old  to  support  themselves,  and  only  an  ex- 
pense, and  some  were  little  children.  "  Perhaps  I  shall  be 
permitted  to  keep  these ;  but  then,  if  the  others  go,  how 
shall  I  provide  for  these  helpless  ones?  .  .  .  Besides, 
many  of  them  would  not  go — they  love  their  mistress, 
and  could  not  be  induced  to  leave  her.  Sir,  an  aged  and 
respectable  minister,  several  years  ago,  when  I  had 
stated  just  such  a  case  to  him  and  asked  him  what  he 
would  do,  said,  '  I  would  set  them  free  ;  I'd  wash  my 
hands  of  them,  and  if  they  went  to  the  devil  I'd  be  clear 
of  them.'  Sir,  into  such  views  of  religion  or  philanthropy 
my  soul  cannot  enter.  I  believe  the  providence  of  God 
has  thrown  these  creatures  into  my  hands,  and  holds  me 
responsible  for  their  proper  treatment.  .  .  .  What  can  I 
do  ?  I  have  no  confession  to  make ;  I  intend  to  make 
none.  I  stand  upon  the  broad  ground  of  the  Discipline 
on  which  I  took  office,  and  if  I  have  done  wrong,  put  me 
out."     He  charged  that  the  editor  of  the  "  Christian  Ad- 


FIN  LEY  IN  DEFENSE   OF  HIS  RESOLUTION.       431 

vocate  "  had  made  him  "  the  scapegoat  of  all  the  difficul- 
ties which  abolition  excitement  had  gotten  up  in  the 
North."  He  affirmed  that  he  had  spent  his  life  for  the 
benefit  of  the  slaves,  and  inquired  if  he  was  to  be  sacrificed 
for  those  who  had  done  little  or  nothing  for  them ;  ex- 
pressed doubts  whether  he  would  be  unacceptable  any- 
where, except  in  some  limited  parts  of  the  North ;  in 
the  South  he  believed  he  was  acceptable ;  and  that  he 
would  not  be  unacceptable  to  one  half  the  connection,  if 
the  conference  thought  proper  to  pass  him.  There  was 
plenty  of  ground  where  he  could  labor  acceptably  and 
usefully.  His  closing  words  were  :  "  The  conference  can 
take  its  course ;  but  I  protest  against  the  proposed  action 
as  a  violation  of  the  laws  of  the  Discipline,  and  an  invasion 
of  the  rights  secured  to  me  by  that  book.  Yet,  let  the 
conference  take  the  steps  they  contemplate ;  I  enter  no 
plea  for  mercy,  I  make  no  appeal  for  sympathy ;  indeed, 
I  love  those  who  sympathize  with  me,  but  I  do  not  want 
it  now.  I  wish  you  to  act  coolly  and  deliberately,  and  in 
the  fear  of  God ;  but  I  would  rather  that  the  conference 
should  change  the  issue,  and  make  the  resolution  to  de- 
pose the  bishop,  and  take  the  question  at  once ;  for  I  am 
tired  of  it.  The  country  is  becoming  agitated  upon  the 
subject,  and  I  hope  the  conference  will  act  forthwith  upon 
the  resolution." 

Finley  followed  in  defense  of  his  substitute,  and  said, 
"  Was  Bishop  Andrew  involved  in  these  circumstances 
when  he  was  elected  to  that  office  ?  No,  sir;  no  man  here 
will  say  he  was.  And  could  he  have  been  elected  to  that 
office  if  he  had  been?  No,  sir ;  no  man  here  will  assert 
that  he  could.  .  .  .  This  voluntary  act  has  thrown  this 
great  body  of  ministers,  and  the  whole  church,  into  this 
tremendous  state  of  agitation,  of  which  he  could  now  re- 
lieve us,  if  he  would,  by  his  resignation."      He  pointed  out 


432  THE  METJIODJSJS.  [Cuai'.  xvii. 

that  his  resohition  was  modified  to  the  most  easy  require- 
ment it  could  be  to  meet  the  feehng  of  Southern  brethren 
and  cover  the  principle ;  "  and  from  this  ground  I  will  not 
be  moved;  on  this  ground  will  I  stand  till  I  die."  He 
maintained  the  right  and  the  power  of  the  General  Con- 
ference to  remove  from  office  one  or  all  of  the  bishops  if, 
from  any  circumstance,  they  became  disqualified  to  carry 
out  the  great  principle  of  the  itinerant  general  superin- 
tendency.  He  demanded  whether  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  would  admit  the  great  evil  of  slavery  into  the 
itinerant  general  superintendency.  He  denied  that  the 
Discipline  was  conservative  toward  slavery.  He  avowed 
that  he  was  not  a  radico-abolitionist ;  that  those  rabid 
abolitionists  called  him  a  pro-slavery  man  ;  but  "  I  treat  it 
with  the  disregard  that  I  did  the  taunt  of  the  Southerners 
that  I  was  an  abolitionist." 

Sehon,  of  Ohio,  opposed  the  proposed  measure.  He 
said  that  he  was  peculiarly  and  delicately  situated.  His 
own  aged  and  venerable  father  was  a  slave-holder ;  he  him- 
self was  born  and  reared  in  Virginia,  and  early  in  his  min- 
istry was  transferred  to  the  free  State  Ohio,  where  he 
wished  to  live  and  die  ;  that  he  was  a  practical  abolitionist, 
and  had  emancipated  perhaps  as  many  slaves  as  any  brother 
on  the  floor  of  the  conference,  but  that  he  now  had  serious 
doubts,  though  he  acted  from  principles  of  justice  and 
humanity  in  freeing  them,  as  to  whether  he  had  truly  im- 
proved their  condition.  He  doubted  the  wisdom,  on  a 
mere  question  of  expediency,  of  proceeding  in  this  sum- 
mary manner  to  depose  a  bishop. 

Winans,  of  Mississippi,  in  feeble  health,  rose  to  reply  to 
Hamline,  especially  on  his  doctrine  concerning  the  adminis- 
trative powers  of  the  General  Conference.  He  would  not 
concede  that  it  had  power  to  suspend,  depose,  or  reprove  a 
bishop.      It  was  shut  up  to  expulsion ;  other  powers  were 


IVINANS  AND    CARTWRIGHT.  433 

mere  inferences,  and  "  such  were  always  dangerous,  hazard- 
ous, ruinous."  He  turned  his  attention  to  Colhns,  and 
denied  that  discontent  was  a  reason  for  a  bishop's  being  set 
aside  or  asked  to  resign.  He  reasserted  that  a  slave-holder 
came  within  one  vote  of  being  elected  to  the  office  of  bishop, 
and,  in  1832,  a  slave-holder  received  forty  non-slave-hold- 
ing votes,  and  if  he  had  received  fifty  perhaps  would  have 
been  elected  bishop.  He  declared  that  from  time  immemo- 
rial slave-holders  had  been  making  concessions ;  "  the  in- 
terests of  the  South  had  been  cramped  more  and  more, 
from  General  Conference  to  General  Conference.  ...  It 
was  their  principle  to  yield  to  the  utmost  extent  rather 
than  give  over  the  unity  of  the  church."  He  referred 
with  feeling  to  his  connection  with  the  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence in  his  early  days,  but  said  that  "  when  tJiey  took  him 
by  the  beard  to  kiss  him,  and  then  plunged  a  poisoned 
dagger  into  his  breast,  he  must  say  it  was  too  bad ;  it  was 
the  unkindest  cut  of  all,  and  he  could  not  help  exclaiming, 
'  Et  tu,  Brute!  '  " 

Peter  Cartwright  delivered  a  characteristic  speech,  be- 
ginning with  his  experience,  which  dated  from  1805, 
when  he  joined  the  Western  Conference,  and  said  that 
every  Methodist  preacher  vvhom  he  ever  knew  opposed 
slavery  from  stem  to  stern  ;  that,  through  all  the  squabbles 
and  difficulties  among  which  the  church  waded,  there  was 
not  to  be  found  among  Methodist  preachers  an  advocate 
of  slavery.  He  would  not  turn  politician,  nor  give  his 
political  opinions ;  if  he  did  they  would  be  different 
from  those  of  the  brother  from  Virginia.  He  thought  "  it 
would  be  a  deplorable  fix  if  we  had  no  power  to  touch  a 
bishop  if  he  becomes  unacceptable  and  unprofitable."  He 
"  never  was  a  great  favorite  with  the  bishops,"  but  he 
"  liked  them  " ;  they  had  always  treated  him  better  than 
he  deserved,  "considering  me  as  Peter  Cartwright."     He 


434  ^-^^  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvii. 

had  received  appointments  from  Asbury  and  Whatcoat, 
and  never  had  anything  against  Andrew.  "  It  is  all  hum- 
bug that  if  a  man  inherit  slaves  he  can  do  nothing  with 
them.  I  so  became  the  owner  and  shouldered  my  respon- 
sibility, resolved  to  be,  like  Caesar's  wife,  above  suspicion, 
took  them  to  my  State,  set  them  free,  gave  them  land 
and  built  them  a  house,  and  they  made  more  money 
than  ever  I  did  by  my  preaching.  .  .  .  Talk  of  division ! 
I  hope  we  shall  hear  no  more  of  this  sickly  talk.  I  do 
not  believe  in  a  division  and  have  not  from  the  first.  Why, 
this  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  would  not  miss  me  any 
more  than  an  ox  would  miss  a  fly  ofif  his  horn."  Reply- 
ing to  the  brother  who  said  that  Bishop  McKendree  wanted 
to  purchase  a  slave,  he  said,  "  Now  I  have  only  to  say  that 
I  have  heard  him  say  five  hundred  times  that  if  he 
owned  a  thousand  slaves  he  would  not  die  a  slave-holder ; 
he  would  set  them  free.  This  doctrine  he  taught  me 
when  I  was  a  beardless  boy  and  when  I  was  a  presiding 
elder." 

An  attempt  was  made  to  order  the  previous  question  to 
be  taken  that  day  at  5  130.  Capers  stated  that  there  were 
others  who  wished  to  speak,  among  them  a  venerable  friend 
from  South  Carolina ;  that  he  also  wished  to  give  his  testi- 
mony, but  could  not  scuffle  for  the  floor,  and  had  been 
pained  and  grieved  by  seeing  a  dozen  claiming  it  at  once. 

After  consultation  among  the  bishops  it  was  decided 
that  the  motion  for  the  previous  question  was  out  of  order. 
Stamper,  of  Illinois,  opposed  the  substitute  as  extra-judicial. 

A  long  discussion  took  place  the  next  day  on  the  adop- 
tion of  a  rule  making  the  previous  question  possible,  and 
it  finally  prevailed. 

Dunwody,  of  South  Carolina,  who  had  been  a  member 
of  eight  General  Conferences,  opposed  the  resolution  on 
the  ground  of  unscripturalness,   unconstitutionality,   and 


SOULE   ON  THE  SITUATION.  435 

mischievousness,  and  reviewed  the  subject  of  slavery  with 
all  the  questions  involved. 

Soule  rose,  declaring  himself  calm,  "  but  not  with  the 
calm  that  precedes  the  tempest  and  the  storm,  nor  the  calm 
of  indifference,  but  of  conviction."  He  would  involve  no 
man  in  responsibility,  but  would  speak  for  himself.  He 
read  an  extract  from  the  address  of  the  general  superin- 
tendents at  the  Conference  of  1840,  and  added: 

"  I  wish  to  say  explicitly  that  if  the  superintendents  are 
only  to  be  regarded  as  the  officers  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  consequently 
as  officers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  liable  to  be 
deposed  at  will  by  a  simple  majority  of  this  body  without 
a  form  of  trial,  no  obligation  existing,  growing  out  of  the 
constitution  and  laws  of  the  church,  even  to  assign  cause 
wherefore — I  say,  if  this  doctrine  be  a  correct  one,  every- 
thing I  have  to  say  hereafter  is  powerless  and  falls  to  the 
ground.  But  brethren  will  permit  me  to  say,  strange  as 
it  may  seem,  although  I  have  had  the  honor  and  the  priv- 
ilege to  be  a  member  of  the  General  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  ever  since  its  present  organ- 
ization, though  I  was  honored  with  a  seat  in  the  conven- 
tion of  ministers  which  organized  it,  in  this  respect  I  have 
heard  for  the  first  time,  either  on  the  floor  of  this  confer- 
ence, in  an  Annual  Conference,  or  through  the  whole  of 
the  private  membership  of  the  church,  this  doctrine  ad- 
vanced;  this  is  the  first  time  I  ever  heard  it.  Of  course 
it  struck  me  as  a  novelty.  I  am  not  going  to  enter  the 
arena  of  controversy  with  this  conference.  I  desire  that 
my  position  may  be  defined.  I  desire  to  understand  my 
landmarks  as  a  bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
— not  the  bishop  of  the  General  Conference,  not  the  bishop 
of  any  Annual  Conference.  I  thought  that  the  constitution 
of  the  church,  I  thought  that  its  laws  and  regulations.  I 


436  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai'.  xvn. 

thought  that  the  many  solemn  vows  of  ordination,  the 
parchment  which  I  hold  under  the  signatures  of  the  de- 
parted dead — I  thought  that  these  had  defined  my  land- 
marks ;  I  thought  that  these  had  prescribed  my  duties ;  I 
thought  that  these  had  marked  out  my  course." 
After  proceeding  at  considerable  length  he  said : 
"  The  adoption  of  that  resolution  deposes  Bishop  Andrew 
without  form  or  trial ;  such  is  my  deliberate  opinion.  I  do 
not  believe  it  is  safe  for  our  community;  I  do  not  believe 
it  is  safe  for  you  ;  and  I  am  out  of  this  question.  What 
shall  be  done  ?  The  question,  I  know,  wakes  up  the  at- 
tention of  every  brother.  Can  it  be  possible  that  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  in  such  a  state  of  excite- 
ment— in  such  a  state,  I  had  almost  said,  of  revolution — 
as  to  be  unprepared  to  send  out  the  plain,  simple  facts  in 
the  case  to  the  churches,  to  the  Annual  Conferences,  every- 
where through  our  community,  and  waive  all  action  on  this 
subject  until  another  General  Conference?  ...  I  am 
about  to  take  my  leave  of  you,  brethren.  You  must 
know — you  cannot  but  know — that,  with  the  principles  I 
have  stated  to  you,  with  the  avowal  of  my  sentiments  in 
regard  to  this  subject,  it  will  not  be  Bishop  Andrew  alone 
that  your  word  will  affect.  No,  sir ;  I  implicate  neither 
my  colleagues  on  my  right  hand  nor  on  my  left;  but  I 
say  the  decision  of  the  question  cannot  affect  Bishop  An- 
drew alone.  I  wish  it  to  be  distinctly  understood,  it  can- 
not affect  him  alone.  I  mean  specially  in  this  point :  I  say 
that  the  resolution  on  which  we  are  just  about  to  act  goes 
to  sustain  the  doctrine  that  the  General  Conference  have 
power  and  right  to  depose  one  of  the  bishops  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  without  the  form  of  trial — 
that  you  are  under  no  obligation  from  the  constitution  or 
laws  of  the  church  to  sJiow  cause,  even.  ...  It  involves 
the  office ;  it  involves  the  charge ;  it  involves  the  relation 


DURE  IN  AND    CAPERS.  437 

itself.  And  now,  in  taking  leave,  I  offer  devout  prayer  to 
Almighty  God  that  you  may  be  directed  wisely  in  the 
decision  you  are  about  to  make.  I  have  given  to  you 
what  in  my  sober  and  deliberate  judgment  is  the  best  and 
safest  course  which  you  can  pursue — safest  for  all  con- 
cerned. I  want  that  opinion  to  have  no  more  influence 
upon  you  than  it  justly  deserves  in  the  conferences — all 
the  conferences.  I  thank  the  conference  for  the  attention 
they  have  been  pleased  to  give  me.  I  thank  the  audience 
for  their  attention.  I  very  well  know — I  am  not  at  all 
unapprised — that  the  position  I  occupy,  in  which  I  stand 
on  the  principles  of  that  resolution,  on  the  principles  in- 
volved in  it,  may  seal  my  fate.  I  say  I  am  not  at  all  un- 
apprised of  that.  Let  me  go ;  but  I  pray  you  hold  to 
principles — to  principles ;  and  with  these  remarks  I  sub- 
mit the  whole  to  your  and  to  God's  direction." 

In  the  afternoon  Durbin  addressed  the  conference.  He 
justified  on  the  ground  of  necessity  the  concessions  made 
by  the  fathers  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  Without  them 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  could  not  have  existed  at 
all  in  the  South.  "This,"  he  affirmed,  "should  be  a  re- 
buke to  our  abolition  brethren  everywhere  who  would  urge 
this  question  to  extremities."  But  he  assumed  that  the 
people  of  the  North,  whatever  their  differences,  were 
united  in  mind,  heart,  and  feeling  on  this  one  point  at 
least,  "  that  the  episcopacy  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  ougJit  not  to  be  trammeled  zvith  slavery."  He 
argued  strenuously  for  the  right  of  the  General  Conference 
to  suspend  Bishop  Andrew,  and  warmly  denied  that  the 
substitute  was  equivalent  to  deposing  him.  Referring  to 
Bishop  Soule,  he  said,  "  Oh,  sir,  when  we  were  left  to  infer 
this  morning  from  the  remarks  of  the  chair  that  the  passage 
of  this  substitute  would  affect  not  only  Bishop  Andrew, 
but  perhaps  others  of  our  bishops,  I  could  not  but  feel 


438  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvii. 

that  a  momentary  cloud  gathered  before  my  eyes  to  dim 
the  clearness  of  my  vision.  The  feelings  which  that  re- 
mark excited  were  not  calculated  to  give  greater  freedom 
to  the  action  of  my  reason  or  greater  precision  to  my  judg- 
ment. But,  strong  as  were  and  are  those  feeHngs,  they 
cannot  stifle  my  conscience  or  darken  my  understanding." 
The  debate  the  next  day  began  with  an  address  by 
Capers.  He  took  issue  with  Durbin  upon  the  proposi- 
tion of  the  latter  that  the  history  of  legislation  in  the 
church  was  a  constant  concession  from  the  North  to  the 
South,  pointing  out  the  fact  that  during  a  portion  of  the 
time  covered  by  Dr.  Durbin  there  was  on  the  subject 
of  slavery  no  North  nor  South.  "  In  those  times  slavery 
existed  by  general  consent,  and  even  the  atrocious  slave- 
trade  was  carried  on  both  by  men  of  Old  England  and 
New  England."  The  action  of  the  church  was  neither 
Southern  nor  Northern  then,  but  such  as  was  deemed 
admissible  in  the  state  of  the  laws  where  the  church 
existed.  He  drew  a  distinction  between  the  proposition 
that  the  conference  had  full  power  to  put  a  bishop  out 
of  office  for  cause  and  the  proposition  that  it  could  reduce 
a  bishop  to  a  mere  General  Conference  officer  and  de- 
pose him  at  will,  with  or  without  some  crime  alleged. 
"  What  would  be  thought  of  a  bishop  by  election  who 
without  consecration  should  assume  the  functions  of  the 
episcopacy  as  if  he  had  been  ordained?"  He  defined 
the  constitution  as  that  law  of  the  church  by  which  the 
governing  power  is  limited,  and  from  every  possible 
definition  of  the  term  called  in  question  the  constitution- 
ality of  the  measure  before  them.  "  It  is  not  Protestant. 
It  is  inconsistent  with  the  great  object  for  which  the 
church  has  been  constituted,"  and  closed  by  declaring  that 
such  a  resolution  would  cut  them  off  from  the  privilege 
of  laboring  with  the  colored  people  for  their  salvation. 


THE  BISHOPS   UNITE  IN  A    COMMUNICATION.     439 

After  George  Peck  had  spoken  for  a  brief  period,  on 
motion  of  Stephen  Ohn  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew  was 
deferred  until  the  next  morning  in  the  hope  that  some 
compromise  might  be  reached. 

The  next  day  Bishop  Waugh  read  to  the  conference  an 
important  communication  from  the  bishops : 

"  Rev.  and  dear  Brethren  :  The  undersigned  re- 
spectfully and  affectionately  offer  to  your  calm  considera- 
tion the  result  of  their  consultation  this  afternoon  in  re- 
gard to  the  unpleasant  and  very  delicate  question  which 
has  been  so  long  and  so  earnestly  debated  before  your 
body.  They  have  with  the  liveliest  interest  watched  the 
progress  of  the  discussion,  and  have  awaited  its  termination 
with  the  deepest  solicitude.  As  they  have  pored  over 
this  subject  with  anxious  thought  by  day  and  by  night, 
they  have  been  more  and  more  impressed  with  the  diffi- 
culties connected  therewith  and  the  disastrous  results 
which,  in  their  apprehension,  are  the  almost  inevitable 
consequences  of  present  action  on  the  question  now  pend- 
ing before  you.  To  the  undersigned  it  is  fully  apparent 
that  a  decision  thereon,  whether  affirmatively  or  negatively, 
will  most  extensively  disturb  the  peace  and  harmony  of 
that  widely  extended  brotherhood  which  has  so  effectively 
operated  for  good  in  the  United  States  of  America  and 
elsewhere  during  the  last  sixty  years  in  the  development 
of  a  system  of  active  energy  of  which  union  has  always 
been  a  main  element.  They  have  with  deep  emotion  in- 
quired. Can  anything  be  done  to  avoid  an  evil  so  much 
deprecated  by  every  friend  of  our  common  Methodism? 
Long  and  anxiously  have  they  waited  for  a  satisfactory 
answer  to  this  inquiry,  but  they  have  paused  in  vain.  At 
this  painful  crisis  they  have  unanimously  concurred  in  the 
propriety  of  recommending  the  postponement  of  further 


440 


THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvii. 


action  in  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew  until  the  ensuing 
General  Conference.  It  does  not  enter  into  the  design  of 
the  undersigned  to  argue  the  propriety  of  their  recom- 
mendation;  otherwise  strong  and  valid  reasons  might  be 
adduced  in  its  support.  They  cannot  but  think  that  if  the 
embarrassment  of  Bishop  Andrew  should  not  cease  before 
that  time  the  next  General  Conference,  representing  the 
pastors,  ministers,  and  people  of  the  several  Annual  Con- 
ferences, after  all  the  facts  in  the  case  shall  have  passed 
in  review  before  them,  will  be  better  qualified  than  the 
present  General  Conference  can  be  to  adjudicate  the  case 
wisely  and  discreetly.  Until  the  cessation  of  the  embar- 
rassment, or  the  expiration  of  the  interval  between  the 
present  and  the  ensuing  General  Conference,  the  under- 
signed believe  that  such  a  division  of  the  work  of  the 
general  superintendency  might  be  made,  without  any  in- 
fraction of  a  constitutional  principle,  as  would  fully  employ 
Bishop  Andrew  in  those  sections  of  the  church  in  which 
his  presence  and  services  would  be  welcome  and  cordial. 
If  the  course  pursued  on  this  occasion  by  the  undersigned 
be  deemed  a  novel  one,  they  persuade  themselves  that 
their  justification,  in  the  view  of  all  candid  and  peace-lov- 
ing persons,  will  be  found  in  their  strong  desire  to  prevent 
disunion  and  to  promote  harmony  in  the  church. 

"  Very  respectfully  and  affectionately  submitted, 

"Joshua  Soule, 
"  Elijah  Hedding, 
"  B.  Waugh, 
"T.  A.  Morris." 

This  communication  was  referred  to  a  committee. 

Hedding,  on  Saturday  morning,  desired  to  withdraw  his 
signature.  He  had  signed  it  as  a  peace  measure,  believ- 
ing that  it  would  be  generally  acceptable  to  the  conference, 


THE  FINAL    VOTE. 


441 


but  in  both  these  expectations  he  was  disappointed. 
Waugh  wished  his  name  to  remain,  as  he  had  signed  it  in 
the  hope  that  it  would  contribute  to  the  preservation  of  the 
church.  Morris  wished  his  name  to  remain  as  a  testimony 
that  he  had  done  what  he  could  to  preserve  the  union  of  the 
body.  Soule  wished  his  name  to  go  fortli  through  a  thousand 
channels  to  the  world.  It  was  already  before  the  American 
people,  and  he  "  might  not  and  would  not  withdraw  it." 

Nathan  Bangs  moved  that  the  communication  lie  on  the 
table.  The  roll  was  called,  and  the  motion  prevailed  by  a 
majority  of  twelve. 

After  debate  the  order  of  the  day  was  taken  up,  where- 
upon Soule  asked  if  the  resolution  was  mandatory  ;  if  it  was 
he  looked  upon  it  as  suspending  Andrew.  There  was  a 
great  difference  between  suspension  and  advice  ;  if  this  was 
mandatory  it  was  judicial.  One  brother  had  said  that  if  the 
resolution  passed  Andrew  was  still  a  bishop  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church ;  if  this  was  the  case  his  remarks,  he 
must  repeat,  were  irrelevant.  He  considered  the  proceed- 
ing as  a  judicial  one,  suspending  Brother  Andrew  from  his 
duties  as  bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

J.  T.  Peck  then  moved  the  previous  question  ;  it  pre- 
vailed, the  roll  was  called  and  the  votes  given  "  amid 
the  most  profound  silence."  The  vote  for  the  resolu- 
tion, declaring  that  "  it  is  the  sense  of  this  conference 
that  Bishop  Andrew  desist  from  the  exercise  of  his  office 
so  long  as  this  impediment  remains,"  was  one  hundred 
and  eleven,  and  the  vote  against  it  was  sixty-nine. 

All  the  votes  from  the  Middle,  Eastern,  and  Western 
States  were  cast  for  the  resolution,  except  three  from  the 
Illinois  Conference,  five  from  the  Baltimore,  four  from  the 
Philadelphia,  two  from  the  New  Jersey,  and  one  each  from 
the  New  York,  Michigan,  and  Rock  River  conferences. 

But  one  resident  of  the  South  voted  for  it ;  he  was  John 


442  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvii. 

Clark,  a  delegate  from  the  republic  of  Texas,  who  entered 
the  New  York  Conference  in  1820  and  filled  \arious  im- 
portant stations  in  the  East  and  in  the  West.  He  was  a 
delegate  to  the  General  Conference  of  1840  from  the 
Illinois  Conference.  On  account  of  his  vote  on  this  and 
other  resolutions  on  the  subject  the  Texas  Conference 
at  its  next  session  passed  special  censure  upon  him ; 
but  he  had  taken  his  family  to  the  North  and  never  re- 
turned to  that  country.^  Thrall,  a  competent  critic,  who 
was  influenced  to  go  to  Texas  by  Martin  Ruter's  letters  in 
the  "  Christian  Advocate,"  and  lived  there  from  1837 
until  his  death  a  few  years  ago,  says  that  "  Clark  was  re- 
markably dignified  and  impressive  in  the  pulpit,  and  was 
acceptable  and  useful  in  Texas  during  his  stay  there." 

Lovick  Pierce  informed  the  conference  that  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment  the  Southern  delegates  would  enter  "  a 
manly,  ministerial,  and  proper  protest  against  this  extra- 
judicial act.  .  .  .  The  constitutionality  or  otherwise  of 
their  proceeding  would  probably  be  tried  before  other 
tribunals."  He  believed  that  "  when  the  public  mind  has 
been  sounded,  and  the  deep  tones  of  public  opinion  come 
pealing  from  all  quarters  of  the  connection,  there  will  be 
a  verdict  in  favor  of  the  South." 

Sheer  and  Sargent,  of  Baltimore,  proposed  a  resolution 
that  "  it  is  the  sense  of  the  General  Conference  that  the  vote 
in  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew  be  understood  as  advisory 
only,  and  not  in  the  light  of  a  judicial  mandate,  and  tiiat 
the  final  disposition  of  his  case  be  postponed  until  the 
General  Conference  of  1848." 

Capers  proposed  resolutions  recommending  to  the  An- 
nual Conferences  to  suspend  the  constitutional  restrictions, 
so  as  in  effect  to  divide  the  supreme  legislative  body  into 
two  General  Conferences :  one  to  include  the  States  and 
1  Thrall's  "  History  of  Methodism  in  Texas,"  p.  84. 


THE   COMMITTEE    OF  NINE    CONSTITUTED.        443 

Territories  sotith  of  the  line  which  divides  those  commonly 
designated  free  States  from  those  in  which  slavery  exists, 
and  also  the  republic  of  Texas ;  the  other  to  comprehend 
those  nortJi  of  the  said  line.  Each  conference  should  have 
full  powers  under  the  present  limitations  and  restrictions 
to  elect  bishops  and  make  rules  and  regulations  for  the 
church  within  its  territorial  limits.  In  case  three  quarters 
of  the  members  of  the  Annual  Conferences  should  approve 
these  resolutions,  the  said  Southern  and  Northern  General 
Conferences  should  be  deemed  as  having  been  constituted 
by  the  joint  approval  of  the  General  and  Annual  Confer- 
ences, and  should  meet  quadrennially,  each  within  its  own 
territory.  The  resolutions  further  provided  that,  in  the 
event  of  such  approval,  the  first  Southern  General  Confer- 
ence should  convene  in  Nashville,  Tenn.,  May  i,  1848, 
and  be  composed  of  delegates  duly  elected  from  the  An- 
nual Conferences.  The  business  of  the  Book  Concern 
should  be  conducted  as  before,  the  editors  and  agents 
being  elected  at  the  time  of  the  session  of  the  Northern 
General  Conference,  and  the  votes  of  the  Southern  General 
Conference  cast  by  delegates  of  that  conference  attending 
the  Northern  for  the  purpose  ;  also  it  was  provided  that  the 
work  of  foreign  missions  should  be  maintained  and  con- 
ducted jointly  between  the  two  General  Conferences  as  one 
church  in  such  manner  as  should  be  agreed  upon  from 
time  to  time. 

The  resolutions  of  Capers  were  referred  to  a  committee 
of  nine :  Paine  of  Tennessee,  Filmore  of  Genesee,  Akers 
of  Illinois,  N.  Bangs  of  New  York,  Crowder  of  Virginia, 
Sargent  of  Baltimore,  Winans  of  Mississippi,  Hamline  of 
Ohio,  Porter   of  New  England. 

Before  the  announcement  of  the  names  of  the  committee 
McFerrin,  of  Tennessee,  and  Spicer,  of  Troy,  offered  the 
following  resolution : 


444  '^^^^   MEl'HODIS'rS.  [Chap.  XVII. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  committee  appointed  to  take  into 
consideration  the  communication  of  the  delegates  from  the 
Southern  Conferences  be  instructed,  provided  they  cannot 
in  their  judgment  devise  a  plan  for  an  amicable  adjustment 
of  the  difificulties  now  existing  in  the  church  on  the  subject 
of  slavery,  to  devise,  if  possible,  a  constitutional  plan  for  a 
mutual  and  friendly  division  of  the  church." 

Upon  this  significant  motion,  Crowder  moved  to  strike 
out  the  word  "constitutional."  This  did  not  prevail,  and 
the  resolution  was  adopted. 

Longstreet  presented  the  following  document,  signed  by 
fifty-two  delegates ;  except  one  from  Illinois,  all  were  from 
the  South. 

"  The  delegates  of  the  conferences  in  the  slave-holding 
States  take  leave  to  declare  to  the  General  Conference  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  that  the  continued  agita- 
tion on  the  subject  of  slavery  and  abolition  in  a  portion  of 
the  church,  the  frequent  action  on  that  subject  in  the 
General  Conference,  and  especially  the  extrajudicial  pro- 
ceedings against  Bishop  Andrew,  which  resulted  on  Satur- 
day last  in  the  virtual  suspension  of  him  from  his  office 
as  superintendent,  must  produce  a  state  of  things  in  the 
South  which  renders  a  continuance  of  the  jurisdiction  of 
that  General  Conference  over  these  conferences  inconsist- 
ent with  the  success  of  the  ministry  in  the  slave-holding 
States." 

A  motion  was  made  by  C.  Elliott  to  refer  this  declara- 
tion to  a  committee  of  nine. 

This  created  some  discussion  and  led  Stephen  Olin  to 
read  these  resolutions : 

"  Resolved,  That  this  conference  does  not  consider  its 
action  in  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew  as  either  judicial  or 
punitive,  but  as  a  prudential  regulation  for  the  security  and 
welfare  of  the  church. 


PROTEST  OF   THE   SOUTHERN  DELEGATES.        445 

"  Resolved,  That,  having  made  a  solemn  declaration  of 
what,  in  their  judgment,  the  safety  and  peace  of  the  church 
require,  it  is  not  necessary  or  proper  to  express  any  opinion 
as  to  what  amount  of  respect  may  justly  belong  to  their 
action  in  the  premises." 

Olin  said  he  would  not  press  these  resolutions  upon  the 
conference,  whereupon  a  call  for  the  previous  question  was 
sustained,  and  the  paper  of  the  Southern  delegates  re- 
ferred to  the   committee  of  nine. 

Henry  B.  Bascom  read  to  the  conference,  on  Thursday, 
June  6th,  the  Protest  of  the  Southern  delegates  in  relation 
to  the  action  in  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew.  It  was  pre- 
sented "  in  behalf  of  thirteen  Annual  Conferences  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  portions  of  the  ministry 
and  membership  of  several  other  conferences,  embracing 
nearly  five  thousand  ministers,  traveling  and  local,  and  a 
membership  of  nearly  five  hundred  thousand  constitution- 
ally represented  in  this  General  Conference." 

It  was  based  upon  the  absence  of  power  in  the  General 
Conference  to  suspend,  depose,  or  otherwise  subject 
a  bishop  to  any  official  disability  whatever  without  the 
formal  presentation  of  a  charge  or  charges  alleging  that 
he  has  been  guilty  of  the  violation  of  some  law  or  dis- 
ciplinary obligation  of  the  church,  and  also  upon  con- 
viction of  such  charge  after  due  form  of  trial ;  it  in- 
volved a  violation  of  the  fundamental  law  essentially 
known  as  the  compromise  law  of  the  church  on  the 
subject  of  slavery ;  and  it  was  a  dangerous  precedent, 
unnecessary,  and  inimical  to  the  coordinancy  of  the 
episcopacy  as  the  executive  department  proper  of  the 
government.  These  propositions  were  argued  at  length 
in  the  Protest,  which  maintained  that,  should  it  be  made 
to  appear  that  the  action  in  Andrew's  case  was  intended 
only  to  advise  and  request,  it  would  not  in  any  way  affect 


446  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvii. 

the  real  or  relative  character  of  the  movement.  It  affirmed 
that,  "  upon  the  principle  that  Andrew  had  become  un- 
acceptable to  the  Northern  conferences  without  any  in- 
fringement of  law,  it  would  follow  that  any  bishop  of  the 
church  either  violating  or  submitting  to  a  violation  of  the 
compromise  charter  of  union  between  the  North  and  South, 
without  proper  and  public  remonstrance,  cannot  be  accept- 
able at  the  South  and  need  not  appear  there." 

The  Protest  closed  with  the  expression  of  the  hope  that, 
"  should  the  exigent  circumstances  in  which  the  minority 
find  themselves  placed  by  the  facts  and  developments 
alluded  to  in  this  remonstrance  render  it  finally  necessary 
that  the  Southern  conferences  should  have  a  separate,  in- 
dependent existence,  the  character  and  services  of  the 
minority,  together  with  the  numbers  and  claims  of  the 
ministry  and  membership  of  the  portion  of  the  church 
represented  by  them,  not  less  than  similar  reasons  and 
considerations  on  the  part  of  the  Northern  and  Middle 
conferences,  will  suggest  the  high  moral  fitness  of  meeting 
this  great  emergency  with  strong  and  steady  purpose  to 
do  justice  to  all  concerned.  And  it  is  believed  that,  ap- 
proaching the  subject  in  this  way,  it  will  be  found  practi- 
cable to  devise  and  adopt  such  measures  and  arrangements, 
present  and  prospective,  as  will  secure  an  amicable  division 
of  the  church  upon  the  broad  principles  of  right  and 
equity,  and  destined  to  result  in  the  common  good  of  the 
great  body  of  ministers  and  members  found  on  either  side 
the  li}ie  of  separation." 

The  Protest  was  signed  by  the  Southern  delegates,  and 
also  by  Berryman  and  Stamper  of  Illinois,  Sehon  of  Ohio, 
and  Sovereign  and  Neal  of  New  Jersey. 

Matthew  Simpson  moved  that,  "  while  they  could  not 
admit  the  statements  put  forth  in  the  Protest,  yet,  as  a 
matter  of  courtesy,  they  would  allow  it  to  be  placed  on 


THE  BISHOPS  ASK  INSTRUCTIONS.  447 

the  'Journal/  and  that  a  committee  consisting  of  Durbin, 
OHn,  and  HamHne  be  appointed  to  make  a  true  statement 
of  the  case  to  be  entered  on  the  '  Journal.'  "  Hamline  and 
Olin  declined  to  serve,  the  latter  on  the  ground  of  illness 
which  compelled  him  to  depart  for  his  home,  and  George 
Peck  and  Charles  Elliott  were  appointed. 

Winans  objected  to  the  word  "  courtesy."  The  chair 
decided  that  the  minority  had  a  right  to  have  the  Protest 
entered  on  the  "Journal";  in  this  decision  two  of  his 
Episcopal  colleagues  concurred  and  from  it  one  dissented. 
Simpson  withdrew  the  first  part  of  his  resolution,  and  the 
remainder  was  adopted. 

Bishop  Soule  presented  this  document: 

"  To  the  General  Conference. 

"  Rev.  and  dear  Brethren  :  As  the  case  of  Bishop 
Andrew  unavoidably  involves  the  future  action  of  the 
superintendents,  which,  in  their  judgment,  in  the  present 
position  of  the  bishop,  they  have  no  discretion  to  decide 
upon,  they  respectfully  request  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence official  instruction  in  answer  to  the  following  ques- 
tions : 

"  I .  Shall  Bishop  Andrew's  name  remain  as  it  now  stands 
in  the  Minutes,  Hymn-book,  and  Discipline,  or  shall  it  be 
struck  off  of  these  official  records? 

"  2.  How  shall  the  bishop  obtain  his  support ;  as 
provided  for  in  the  Form  of  Discipline,  or  in  some  other 
way? 

**  3.  What  work,  if  any,  may  the  bishop  perform,  and 
how  shall  he  be  appointed  to  the  work  ? 

"  (Signed)        Joshua  Soule, 

"  Elijah  Hedding, 
"  Beverly  Waugh, 
"T.  A.  Morris." 


448  '^'^^   METHOD  I  SIS.  [Chap.  xvii. 

This  caused  an  irregular  debate,  which  was  ended  by 
the  adoption  of  the  following : 

''Resolved,  i.  As  the  sense  of  this  conference,  that 
Bishop  Andrew's  name  stand  in  the  Minutes,  Hymn-book, 
and  Discipline  as  formerly. 

"  Resolved,  2.  That  the  rule  in  relation  to  the  support 
of  a  bishop  and  his  family  applies  to  Bishop  Andrew. 

"  Resolved,  3.  That  whether  any  and  in  what  work 
Bishop  Andrew  be  employed  is  to  be  determined  by  his 
own  decision  and  action,  in  relation  to  the  previous  action 
of  this  conference  in  his  case." 

The  first  resolution  passed  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty-four  against  eighteen ;  the  second  by  one  hundred 
and  fifty-one  against  fourteen;  and  the  third  by  one  hun- 
dred and  three  against  sixty-seven. 

By  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  to  forty- 
eight  on  the  roll-call,  the  following  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee  on   Slavery   was   passed  on   the    7th   of  June : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  resolutions  passed  at  the  last  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  1840  on  the  subject  of  the  testimony 
of  colored  persons  in  church  trials  be,  and  the  same  are 
hereby,  rescinded." 

The  report  of  the  Committee  of  Nine,  commonly  known 
as  "  The  Plan  of  Separation,"  and  sometimes  as  "  The  Plan 
of  Adjustment,"  was  elaborately  discussed  under  a  motion 
to  adopt  it,  made  by  Elliott,  of  Ohio.  The  entire  docu- 
ment as  finally  adopted,  which  is  necessary  to  an  under- 
standing of  subsequent  events,  may  be  found  in  the 
Appendix.      It  is  here  epitomized : 

"Whereas,  A  declaration  has  been  presented  to  this 
General  Conference,  with  the  signatures  oi  fifty -one  dele- 
gates of  the  body,  from  thirteen  Annual  Conferences  in 
the  slave-holding  States,  representing  that,  for  various 
reasons    enumerated,    the    objects    and    purposes    of    the 


PLAN  OF   COMMITTEE    OF  NINE.  449 

Christian  ministry  and  church  organization  cannot  be  suc- 
cessfully accomplished  by  them  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
this  General  Conference  as  now  constituted ;  and 

"  Whereas,  In  the  event  of  a  separation,  a  contingency 
to  which  the  declaration  asks  attention  as  not  improbable, 
we  esteem  it  the  duty  of  this  General  Conference  to  meet 
the  emergency  with  Christian  kindness  and  the  strictest 
equity ;  therefore, 

"  Resolved,  By  the  delegates  of  the  several  Annual  Con- 
ferences in  General  Conference  assembled, 

"  That,  should  the  Annual  Conferences  in  the  slave- 
holding  States  find  it  necessary  to  unite  in  a  distinct  eccle- 
siastical connection,  the  following  rule  shall  be  observed 
with  regard  to  the  Northern  boundary  of  such  connection," 

It  provided  a  method  of  determining  the  limits  of  the 
two  churches ;  granted  to  ministers  the  privilege  of  choice 
between  them ;  recommended  the  Annual  Conferences  to 
repeal  the  restrictive  rule  regulating  the  appropriation 
of  the  proceeds  of  the  Book  Concern;  provided  for  the 
transfer  to  the  Southern  church  of  accounts  against 
ministers  and  citizens  of  the  South,  and  of  real  estate 
and  other  property  located  there  belonging  to  the  Book 
Concern ;  and  for  the  division  of  the  capital  stock  and  the 
transfer  of  an  equitable  portion  to  the  church  South. 
It  appointed  three  commissioners  to  act  in  concert  with 
three  from  the  Southern  church  to  arrange  these  di- 
visions and  transfers ;  suggested  a  plan  for  joint  action  of 
the  book-agents  of  the  two  churches  for  settling  claims ; 
proposed  to  free  property,  churches,  and  schools  then 
owned  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  within  the 
Hmits  of  the  Southern  organization  from  all  obligations  to 
said  church  ;  also  to  guarantee  to  both  churches  the  use  of 
all  copyrights  in  the  possession  of  the  Book  Concern  ;  and 
orovided  for  a  similar  division  of  the   Chartered  Fund. 


450  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvii. 

It  requested  the  bishops  to  bring  before  the  Annual  Con- 
ferences as  soon  as  possible  such  part  of  the  report  as  re- 
quired their  action,  beginning  with  the  New  York. 

Elliott,  of  Ohio,  opened  the  debate.  His  remarks  in 
part  are  thus  represented  in  the  official  account:  "All 
history  did  not  furnish  an  example  of  such  a  large  body 
of  Christians  remaining  in  such  close  and  unbroken  con- 
nection as  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  It  was  now 
found  necessary  to  separate  this  large  body,  for  it  was 
becoming  unwieldy.  ...  In  his  own  mind  it  had  been 
for  several  years  perfectly  clear  that  to  this  conclusion 
they  must  eventually  come.  Were  the  question  that  now 
unhappily  agitated  the  church  dead  and  buried,  there 
would  be  good  reason  for  passing  the  resolutions  contained 
in  that  report." 

Griffith,  of  Baltimore,  said  that  he  would  oppose  this 
measure  even  though  he  stood  alone ;  that  they  dared  not 
refer  the  question  to  the  Annual  Conferences  ;  that  no  one 
had  a  right  to  divide  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
He  declared  that  the  plan  put  it  in  the  power  of  any  set 
of  men  to  make  a  distinct  body  whenever  they  chose. 

Cartwright  opposed  it.  The  plan  would  create  war 
and  strife  in  the  border  conferences,  would  be  a  bad  prec- 
edent, and  tend  to  divide  the  church  into  a  thousand 
ramifications.  He  would  say  to  his  Southern  brethren, 
who  were  coming  up  to  this  measure  in  a  solid  phalanx, 
what  they  had  said  to  him :  "  Pause ;  and  if  you  will  not 
do  it  for  our,  do  it  for  your  own,  sakes."  He  was  willing 
to  go  for  only  one  proposition — to  lay  the  case  before 
the  people  during  the  next  four  years. 

Paine,  of  Tennessee,  favored  it.  He  trusted  that  secession 
would  not  take  place.  The  measure  had  been  concocted 
in  a  spirit  of  compromise  and  fraternal  feeling  in  the  hope 
of  preventing  agitation  and  schism. 


DEBATING    THE  PLAN.  45  I 

Luckey,  of  Genesee,  favored  the  report,  which,  though 
settling  nothing,  provided  in  an  amicable  and  proper  way 
for  such  action  as  it  might  be  necessary  to  take.  The 
danger  apprehended  by  Cartwright  existed  only  in  the 
fires  of  his  imagination.  Wesley  had  contended  at  one 
time  for  the  unity  of  the  Methodist  body  throughout  the 
world,  but  subsequently  saw  it  necessary  to  permit  the 
connection  in  the  United  States  to  separate ;  and  had  it 
not  been  for  the  best? 

Bangs,  of  New  York,  hoped  the  time  would  never  come 
for  a  separation,  but  on  the  appearance  of  two  evils  chose 
the  least;  the  choice  was  between  the  violent  separation 
of  the  South  and  its  peaceable  and  amicable  separation. 
if  they  did  separate,  the  laws.  Discipline,  government, 
all  would  be  the  same,  and  they  should  be  as  warm  in  their 
afifection  toward  each  other  as  they  were  now.  Bangs 
hoped  for  a  unanimous  decision.. 

Filmore,  of  Genesee,  said  fears  existed,  and  by  debating 
this  the  church  proposed  that  if  these  fears  proved  well 
grounded  they  would  divide  into  two  churches. 

Finley,  of  Ohio,  could  see  in  the  report  no  proposition  to 
divide  the  church.  He  discerned  nothing  unconstitutional 
in  it,  and  drew  a  parallel  between  what  was  now  proposed 
and  what  was  done  for  the  Canada  Conference.  An  issue 
was  raised  about  that  legislation,  and  while  the  journals 
were  being  searched,  Hamhne,  by  consent,  explained 
that  the  only  point  which  touched  the  constitution  in 
the  report  related  to  the  division  of  the  funds  of  the 
Book  Concern,  and  that  was  the  only  one  to  be  sent 
to  the  Annual  Conferences.  He  thought  the  report 
could  not  be  objected  to  on  the  ground  of  unconstitution- 
ality, and  exclaimed,  "  I,  for  one,  would  wish  to  have  my 
name  recorded  affirming  them  to  be  brethren  if  they  find 
that  they  must  separate.     God  forbid  that  they  should 


452  THE  METIIOD/STS.  [CuAr.  xvii, 

go  as  an  arm  torn  out  of  the  body,  leaving  the  point  of 
junction  all  gory  and  ghastly  !  But  let  them  go  as  brethren 
beloved  in  the  Lord,  and  let  us  hear  their  voice,  responsive, 
claim  us  for  brethren." 

Bond,  the  editor  of  the  "  Christian  Advocate,"  who, 
though  not  a  member  of  the  conference,  had  been  invited 
to  participate  in  its  debates,  opposed  the  report,  predicting 
that  it  would  produce  warfare  on  the  borders,  and  conse- 
quently the  interior  could  not  be  at  peace.  The  brethren 
who  prepared  the  report  had  taken  the  worst  course 
arbitrators  could  take ;  namely,  to  attempt  to  split  the 
difference. 

Collins  thought  the  report  contained  the  best  proposition 
under  the  circumstances.  He  hoped,  however,  that  they 
would  not  separate. 

Porter,  of  New  England,  declared  that  the  time  was 
coming  when  separation  must  take  place.  The  committee 
presented  their  report  as  the  best  provision  for  the  situation. 
The  difficulty  was  greater  now  than  it  was  four  years  ago, 
and  would  increase.  If  there  were  defects  in  the  scheme 
they  could  arrest  it  in  the  Annual  Conferences. 

Durbin  understood  that  the  action  was  to  commence  in 
the  South.  He  thought  that  in  the  present  excitement  it 
would  not  be  an  advantage  to  have  it  begin  next  week  in 
the  New  York  Conference;  he  would  substitute  the  New 
Jersey  for  the  New  York. 

Capers  appreciated  Durbin's  object  and  motives,  but 
thought  it  was  necessary  to  decide  immediately.  The 
Southern  brethren  stood  like  men  "at  the  death."  If  the 
conference  suspended  action  too  long  it  would  come  too 
late.  "  Oh,  that  they  could  pour  some  oil  on  the  troubled 
feelings  of  the  South!"  He  knew  of  nothing  so  likely  to 
do  this  as  the  passage  of  the  resolution  before  them. 

Ruter  wished  to  substitute  the   Kentucky   Conference 


CONTINGENT  PLAN  FOR  DIVISION  ADOPTED.      453 

for  the  New  Jersey  ;  this  he  understood  to  be  the  first  con- 
ference in  the  South. 

Winans  recited  the  history  of  the  matter  as  it  was  laid  be- 
fore the  Committee  of  Nine,  and  said, "  The  only  proposition 
was  that  they  might  have  liberty  if  necessary  to  organize 
a  separate  conference ;  and  it  is  important  that  the  South 
should  know  at  an  early  period  that  they  had  such  liberty, 
in  order  to  allay  the  intense  excitement  which  prevails  in 
that  portion  of  the  work." 

At  this  point  Durbin  withdrew  his  amendment,  and  after 
some  desultory  conversation  the  report  was  adopted.  On 
the  first  and  the  test  resolution  there  were  one  hundred  and 
thirty-five  votes  in  the  affirmative  and  fifteen  in  the  nega- 
tive. The  fifteen  were  Sanford  and  Martindaleof  New  York, 
Lovejoy  and  Benton  of  Providence,  Hobart  and  Nicker- 
son  of  Maine,  A.  D.  Peck  of  Black  River,  Snyder,  Row, 
and  Holmes  of  Oneida,  Power  and  Poe  of  North  Ohio, 
Cartwright  of  Illinois,  and  Griffith  and  Bear  of  Baltimore. 

The  second  resolution  was  adopted  by  one  hundred  and 
thirty-nine  to  seventeen,  and  the  third  by  one  hundred  and 
forty-seven  to  twelve ;  the  fourth  without  a  roll-call ;  the 
fifth  by  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  to  thirteen  ;  the  sixth, 
seventh,  eighth,  ninth,  tenth,  eleventh,  and  twelfth  were 
adopted  without  a  count  vote,  and  finally  the  preamble 
was  adopted. 

This  action  was  consummated  on  Saturday,  June  8th. 

On  Monday  afternoon,  June  lOth,  John  P.  Durbin, 
chairman  of  the  committee  to  prepare  a  Reply  to  the 
Protest,  presented  and  read  the  report.  The  discussion 
continued  until  the  adjournment,  and  was  resumed  on  the 
reassembling  of  the  conference  at  8  :30  in  the  evening. 

The  Reply  points  out  that  no  slave-holder  had  been 
elected  to  the  episcopacy,  though  several  otherwise  emi- 
nently fitted  for  the  station  failed  of  success  "  solely  on 


454  '^^^^  METHODISTS.  [Chap,  xvii, 

account  of  this  impediment  "  ;  that  of  the  nine  bishops 
already  elected  in  the  history  of  the  church  only  three  had 
been  Northern  men,  while  six  had  been  natives  of  the 
slave-holding  States,  but  not  one  a  slave-holder.  It  then 
recounts  the  circumstances  of  Andrew's  election,  gives  a 
history  of  his  connection  with  slavery,  emphasizes  the  fact 
that  Bishop  Andrew  had  become  the  owner  of  slaves  by 
bequest,  by  inheritance,  and  by  marriage ;  and  maintained 
that,  so  far  as  the  slaves  that  belong  to  his  present  wife  were 
concerned,  they  had  become  by  the  laws  of  Georgia  the 
property  of  Bishop  Andrew  to  keep  or  dispose  of  as  he 
pleased  ;  that  he  had  conveyed  them  to  a  trustee  for  the  joint 
use  of  himself  and  wife,  of  whom  the  survivor  is  to  be  the  sole 
owner,  and  that  this  conveyance  was  made  for  the  security 
of  Mrs.  Andrew,  and  with  no  view  either  to  satisfy  or  to 
mislead  the  opinions  of  the  Northern  church  ;  reaffirms  that 
he  could  not  exercise  his  functions  without  entailing  disaster 
upon  the  church  in  the  North,  explains  the  diversity  of 
sentiment  as  to  the  proper  method  of  treating  the  case,  and 
then  the  action  finally  adopted.  It  emphatically  declares 
that  that  action  was  neither  judicial  nor  punitive;  that  it 
did  not  achieve  nor  intend  so  much  as  a  legal  suspension ; 
that  Bishop  Andrew  "  is  still  a  bishop,  and  should  he, 
against  the  expressed  sense  of  the  General  Conference, 
proceed  in  the  discharge  of  his  functions,  his  official  acts 
would  be  valid."  The  Reply  examines  the  arguments  and 
allegations  of  fact  brought  forth  in  the  debate  and  the 
Protest,  bearing  on  the  constitutional  aspect  of  the  case, 
and  adduces  quotations  from  Asbury,  Coke,  Dickins,  and 
Emory,  also  the  undisputed  expressions  of  Hedding. 

The  conclusion  is  important,  particularly  the  second 
paragraph : 

"  When  all  the  law,  and  the  facts  in  the  case,  shall  have 
been  spread  before  an  impartial  community,  the  majority 


REPLY  TO    THE  PROTEST.  455 

have  no  doubt  that  they  ivill  fix  '  the  responsibility  of 
divisiojt,'  should  such  an  unhappy  event  take  place, '  where 
in  justice  it  belongs.'  They  will  ask,  Who  first  introduced 
slavery  into  the  episcopacy  ?  And  the  answer  will  be,  Not 
the  General  Conference.  Who  opposed  the  attempt  to 
withdraw  it  from  the  episcopacy  ?  Not  the  General  Con- 
feretice.  Who  resisted  the  measure  of  peace  that  was  pro- 
posed— the  mildest  that  the  case  allowed  ?  Not  the  majority. 
Who  first  sounded  the  knell  of  division,  and  declared  that 
it  would  be  impossible  longer  to  remain  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  ?  Not  the 
majority. 

"  The  proposition  for  a  peaceful  separation  (if  any  must 
take  place)  with  which  the  Protest  closes,  though  strangely 
at  variance  with  much  that  precedes,  has  already  been  met 
by  the  General  Conference.  And  the  readiness  with 
which  that  body  (by  a  vote  which  would  doubtless  have 
been  unanimous  but  for  the  belief  that  some  entertained 
of  the  unconstitutionality  of  the  measure)  granted  all  that 
the  Southern  brethren  themselves  could  ask  in  such  an 
event  must  forever  stand  as  a  practical  refutation  of  any 
assertion  that  the  minority  have  been  subjected  to  the 
tyranny  of  a  majority." 

Crowder  declared  that  the  passage  of  that  report  by  the 
majority  would  render  division  inevitable.  He  could  but 
regard  the  document  as  an  insult  to  the  whole  South. 

Early  besought  the  brethren  not  to  adopt  it  hastily.  He 
said  that  some  thought  Crowder  excited,  but  he  himself 
was  calm  and  collected.  The  idea  set  forth  in  the  Reply, 
that  the  character  of  a  class-leader  could  be  examined  at 
the  Quarterly  Conference,  was  new  and  contrary  to  the 
fact.  He  declared  it  unparalleled  that  such  a  Reply  should 
be  made  to  a  Protest. 

Bangs  wished  to  know  whether  this  debate  was  in  order. 


456  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvii. 

Bishop  Waugh  reminded  him  that  the  motion  was  to  spread 
it  on  the  "Journal."  Longstreet  said  it  was  "the  right 
of  the  minority  to  spread  their  Protest  on  the  '  Journal,' 
not  the  right  of  the  conference  to  appoint  a  committee  to 
reply."      He  took  up  the  original  question. 

Smith  pointed  out  that  in  Georgia,  where  Andrew  lived, 
creditors  had  "  peculiar  claims  over  and  abo\e  children  and 
heirs."  C.  Elliott  claimed  that  the  course  proposed  by 
the  committee  was  in  harmony  wath  the  rules.  Collins 
said  the  report  was  not  a  protest,  but  a  report  of  a  com- 
mittee. 

Bishop  Waugh  thought  that  the  conference  had  a  right 
to  its  own  judgment.  They  might  decline  to  adopt,  and 
still  wish  to  spread  it  on  the  "Journal." 

Ames  defended  the  report.  Durbin  said  the  Protest  of 
the  minority  was  an  elaborate  argumentation  of  the  case ; 
that  both  Olin  and  Hamline,  former  members  of  the  com- 
mittee, concurred  with  him.  He  and  his  present  colleagues, 
however,  would  consent  to  omit  from  their  report  the  refer- 
ence to  class-leaders  (which  implied  that  they  were  amen- 
able to  the  Quarterly  Conference  for  their  official  conduct) 
and  the  supposititious  case  about  Bishop  Andrew's  being 
called  up  at  the  next  General  Conference  if  he  continued 
to  exercise  his  functions.  He  had  not  expected  the  report 
to  be  adopted,  but  to  be  placed  without  debate  by  the 
side  of  the  Protest. 

Smith,  of  Virginia,  charged  the  majority  with  having 
attempted  "  to  deceive  the  public  long  enough,"  and 
desired  them  to  tell  the  five  hundred  thousand  Methodists 
South  what  they  wanted  to  do. 

The  motion  to  spread  the  report  on  the  "Journal"  and 
print  it  was  carried,  and  the  call  of  the  roll  showed  one 
hundred  and  sixteen  votes  in  the  affirmative  and  twenty- 
six  in  the  negative.     Those  in  the  negative  were  all  from 


AFTER  ADJOURNMENT. 


457 


the  South  except  seven ;  and  of  those  in  the  affirmative 
twenty  were  from  the  South. 

The  conference  adjourned  about  midnight  on  the  loth 
of  June. 

Before  departing  from  the  city,  on  the  i  ith,  the  South- 
ern delegates  met  to  dehberate  on  their  future  course. 
They  issued  an  address  to  the  ministers  and  members  of 
their  conferences,  giving  information  of  the  action  of  the 
General  Conference  with  respect  to  a  possible  separation. 
In  this  they  said,  "  It  affords  us  pleasure  to  state  that  there 
were  those  found  among  the  majority  who  made  this  prop- 
osition with  every  manifestation  of  justice  and  liberality, 
and,  should  a  similar  spirit  be  exhibited  by  the  Annual 
Conferences  in  the  North,  there  will  remain  no  legal  im- 
pediment to  its  legal  consummation."  They  recommended 
that,  to  prevent  undue  haste  and  forestall  divided  coun- 
sels, nothing  be  done  till  the  conferences  represented 
could  meet  in  a  general  convention,  for  the  time  of  which 
they  suggested  May  i,  1845,  ^'^^  for  the  place  Louisville, 
Ky.,  and  that  this  convention  should  be  composed  of 
delegates  from  the  Southern  conferences  in  the  proportion 
of  one  delegate  to  eleven  members. 

Although  great  public  excitement  had  been  caused  in 
the  vicinity  of  New  York  by  the  debates  and  the  action  of 
the  conference  during  the  session,  after  the  adjournment 
it  extended  widely. 

"  Ah  possible  phases  of  the  question — slave-holding  and 
slave  traffic,  antislaveryism,  emancipation,  abolitionism, 
slave-holding  preachers  and  bishops,  the  constitutionality 
and  unconstitutionality  of  the  division,  the  probable  results 
of  secession,  etc. — were  discussed  throughout  the  entire 
country."  ^ 

Bishop  Andrew,  in  August,  1844,  issued  an  address  to 

1  Curtiss's  "  Manual  of  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  History,"  p.  182. 


458  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap,  xvii, 

the  public,  justifying  his  course  and  that  of  the  Southern 
delegates. 

The  bishops  prepared  two  plans  of  Episcopal  distribution  ; 
in  that  published  they  gave  Andrew  no  work.  Soule  pro- 
tested against  this.  Bishop  Morris,  in  a  private  letter  to 
Bishop  Andrew,  explained  why  it  was  done.  The  published 
plan  was  upon  the  assumption  that  he  would  decide  not  to 
act,  and  the  reserved  plan  was  in  anticipation  of  his  pos- 
sible decision  to  take  work.  Invited  by  Bishop  Soule  to 
attend  his  conferences,  Andrew,  in  the  fall,  joined  him  at 
Frankfort,  the  seat  of  the  Kentucky  Conference.  Having 
no  separate  duty  assigned  him,  he  assisted  Soule  in  his 
district.' 

The  Kentucky,  held  September  ii,  1844,  was  the  first 
Southern  Conference  to  assemble.  Resolutions  were 
passed,  with  but  one  vote  in  the  negative,  declaring  that 
in  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew  and  F.  A.  Harding  the 
action  was  not  sustained  by  the  Discipline  of  the  church ; 
that  it  was  a  dangerous  precedent ;  that  they  regretted  the 
prospect  of  division  therefrom  resulting ;  that  they  ap- 
proved the  proposed  convention  of  delegates,  and  also 
the  course  of  the  delegates  from  the  South  in  the  late 
General  Conference ;  that  they  should  deem  the  contem- 
plated division  unavoidable  unless  their  ministry  and  mem- 
bership could  be  secured  against  future  corrections,  and 
reparation  be  made  for  past  injury;  and  they  invited  the 
bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  attend  the 
contemplated  convention. 

Similar  resolutions  were  passed  by  the  other  Southern 
conferences,  some  adopting  stronger  forms  of  expression. 
Upon  the  whole,  the  unanimity  of  sentiment  and  action 
was  extraordinary,  and  the  Missouri,  Holston,  Tennessee, 
Memphis,  Mississippi,  Arkansas,  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
1  Smitli'b  "  Life  and  Letters  of  Bishop  Andrew,"  pp.  376-378. 


ORGANIZATION  OF   THE    CHURCH,    SOUTH.  459 

South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Texas,  Alabama,  and  Indian 
Mission  conferences  elected  delegates  to  the  Louisville 
convention. 

The  convention  met  in  Louisville  at  the  time  appointed, 
nearly  one  hundred  delegates  in  attendance.  Dr.  Lovick 
Pierce  was  made  temporary  president ;  Thomas  O.  Sum- 
mers was  elected  secretary.  Bishops  Soule,  Andrew, 
and  Morris  were  present.  The  convention  requested  them 
to  preside  in  turn,  but  Morris  declined.  Soule  on  the 
second  day  addressed  the  body  in  a  manner  adapted  to 
promote  its  purpose.  He  told  them  that  his  opinion 
at  the  close  of  the  late  General  Conference,  that  the  pro- 
ceedings of  that  body  would  result  in  a  division  of  the 
church,  was  not  induced  by  the  impulse  of  excitement, 
but  was  deduced  from  principles  and  effects  after  the 
most  deliberate  and  mature  consideration;  that,  believing 
it  to  be  unavoidable,  his  effort  had  been  not  to  prevent, 
but  to  see  that  it  produced  the  least  injury  and  the  great- 
est amount  of  good  possible.  He  also  stated  that  in  the 
Southern  conferences  which  he  had  attended  he  did  not 
recol'ect  a  dissenting  voice  with  respect  to  the  necessity  of 
a  separate  organization. 

After  debating  various  phases  of  the  subject,  on  the 
1 7th  of  May  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Organization 
was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  ninety-four  to  three : 

"  Be  it  resolved  by  the  delegates  of  the  several  Annual 
Conferences  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
slave-holding  States,  in  general  convention  assembled,  that 
it  is  right,  expedient,  and  necessary  to  erect  the  Annual 
Conferences  represented  in  this  convention  into  a  distinct 
ecclesiastical  connection,  separate  from  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
as  at  present  constituted  ;  and  accordingly  we,  the  delegates 
of  said  Annual  Conferences,  acting  under  the  provisional 


460  THE   MEl'IIODISrS.  [Chap.  xvii. 

Plan  of  Separation  adopted  by  the  General  Conference  of 
1844,  do  solemnly  declare  the  jurisdiction  hitherto  exer- 
cised over  said  Annual  Conferences  by  the  General  Con- 
ference of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  entirely  dis- 
solved ;  and  that  said  Annual  Conferences  shall  be,  and  they 
hereby  are,  constituted  a  separate  ecclesiastical  connection 
under  the  provisional  Plan  of  Separation  aforesaid,  and 
based  upon  the  Discipline  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  comprehending"  the  doctrines  and  entire  moral, 
ecclesiastical,  and  canonical  rules  and  regulations  of  said 
Discipline,  except  only  in  so  far  as  verbal  alterations  may 
be  necessary  to  a  distinct  organization,  and  to  be  known 
by  the  style  and  title  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South. 

"  Resolved,  That,  although  we  cannot  abandon  or  com- 
promise the  principles  of  action  upon  which  we  proceed  to 
a  separate  organization  in  the  South,  nevertheless,  cherish- 
ing a  sincere  desire  to  maintain  Christian  union  and  frater- 
nal intercourse  with  the  church  North,  we  shall  always  be 
ready  to  entertain  and  duly  and  carefully  consider  any 
proposition  or  plan  having  for  its  object  the  union  of  the 
two  great  bodies  in  the  North  and  South,  whether  such 
proposed  union  be  jurisdictional  or  connectional."  ^ 

Soule  and  Andrew  were  invited  to  become  bishops. 
The  latter  accepted  ;  Soule  responded  with  a  written  com- 
munication to  the  effect  that  he  must  act  as  bishop  among 
the  Northern  conferences  until  he  had  completed  the  plan 
of  visitation  settled  by  the  bishops  in  Nev/  York. 

After  this  convention  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  exclusive  of  Soule  and  Andrew,  resolved  to 
withdraw  from  the  South.  A  private  note  from  Bishop 
Hedding  to  Bishop  Andrew,  dated  July  4,  1845,  explains 
the  circumstances :  "  A  meeting  had  been  invited  of  the 

1  Curtiss's  "  Manual  of  Church  History,"  pp.  184,  185. 


n^S  FIRST  GENERAL    CONFERENCE.  46 1 

bishops  adhering  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Bishops  Waugh,  Morris,  Janes,  and  myself  attended.  We 
judged  that,  in  consideration  of  the  acts  of  the  Louisville 
convention,  we  could  not  be  justified  in  presiding  in  the 
Annual  Conferences  represented  in  the  said  convention. 
Bishops  Morris  and  Janes  desired  going  to  the  conferences 
assigned  to  them  in  the  South,  but  the  final  decision  was 
that  it  would  be  inadvisable." 

At  the  time  of  the  publication  of  the  revised  plan  of 
episcopal  visitation  they  also  passed  the  following  resolu- 
tion : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  plan  reported  by  a  select  Com- 
mittee of  Nine  at  the  last  General  Conference,  and  adopted 
by  that  body,  in  regard  to  a  distinct  ecclesiastical  connec- 
tion, should  such  a  course  be  found  necessary  by  the 
Annual  Conferences  in  the  slave-holding  States,  is  regarded 
by  us  as  of  binding  obligation  in  the  premises  so  far  as  our 
own  administration  is  concerned. 

"  (Signed)  E.  S.  Janes,  Secretary." 

The  first  General  Conference  met  in  Petersburg,  Va., 
May  I,  1846,  and  consisted  of  eighty-seven  members. 
John  Early  presided  on  the  first  day  until  the  arrival  of 
Andrew.  On  the  second  day  Soule  formally  announced 
his  adherence.  The  closing  paragraph  of  his  statement 
reads  as  follows : 

"  The  organization  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  being  thus  completed  in  the  organization  of  the 
General  Conference  with  a  constitutional  president,  the 
time  has  arrived  when  it  is  proper  for  me  to  announce  my 
position.  Sustaining  no  relation  to  one  Annual  Confer- 
ence which  I  did  not  sustain  to  every  other,  and  consider- 
ing the  General  Conference  as  the  proper  judicatory  to 


462  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvii. 

which  my  communication  should  be  made,  T  have  decHned 
making  this  announcement  until  the  present  time.  And 
now,  acting  with  strict  regard  to  the  Plan  of  Separation 
and  under  a  solemn  conviction  of  duty,  I  formally  declare 
my  adherence  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
And  if  the  conference  receive  me  in  my  present  relation 
to  the  church  I  am  ready  to  serve  them  according  to  the 
best  of  my  ability.  In  conclusion,  I  indulge  the  joyful 
assurance  that,  although  separated  from  our  Northern 
brethren  by  a  distinct  conference  jurisdiction,  we  shall 
never  cease  to  treat  them  as  '  brethren  beloved,'  and  culti- 
vate those  principles  and  affections  which  constitute  the 
essential  unity  of  the  church  of  Christ."  ^ 

The  conference  elected  Early  book-agent,  and  made 
the  editors  of  the  "  Christian  Advocates  "  at  Charleston, 
Richmond,  and  Louisville  assistants  and  subject  to  his 
direction  in  depository  matters.  A  "  Quarterly  Review  " 
was  ordered  to  be  started  at  Louisville,  H.  B.  Bascom, 
editor.  A  constitution  for  the  Church  Missionary  Society 
was  adopted,  and  the  bishops  were  authorized  to  appoint 
two  missionaries  to  China.  E.  Stevenson  was  elected 
missionary  secretary ;  T.  O.  Summers  editor  of  the  Sun- 
day-school paper.  Provision  was  made  for  revising  the 
hymn-book,  and  commissioners  were  appointed  to  act  in 
concert  with  the  commissioners  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  in  adjusting  mutual  interests  in  the  Book 
Concern.  Also  it  was  ordered  that,  should  the  com- 
missioners appointed  by  the  General  Conference  fail  to 
effect  a  settlement  as  above,  they  were  authorized  to 
"  take  such  measures  as  might  best  secure  the  just  and 
equitable  claims  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
and  the  property  and  effects  aforesaid." 

William  Capers  and  Robert  Paine  were  elected  bishops, 
1  McTyeire's  "  History  of  Methodism,"  p.  643. 


NUMBER  IN  NEW  ORGANIZATION.  463 

and  ordained  by  Soule  and  Andrew,  assisted  by  Lovick 
Pierce  and  John  Early.  Pierce  was  appointed  a  delegate 
to  the  ensuing  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  "  to  tender  to  that  body  the  Christian  regards 
and  fraternal  salutations  of  the  General  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South." 

Capers  had  risen  to  a  commanding  position  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Eighteen  years  before  he 
had  represented  that  body  as  fraternal  delegate  to  the 
British  Conference ;  and  one  year  later  had  established 
missions  to  slaves,  taking  the  position  of  superintendent 
thereof,  and  had  been  astonishingly  successful ;  six  years 
before  he  had  been  elected  one  of  the  general  missionary 
secretaries. 

Paine  had  for  sixteen  years  been  president  of  La  Grange 
College,  Alabama,  and  in  1844  was  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  episcopacy  and  of  the  committee  which  drew 
up  the  Plan  of  Separation. 

The  section  and  rule  on  slavery  were  left  unchanged, 
but  an  explanatory  statement  was  added  that  it  was  under- 
stood "  in  the  sense  of  the  declarations  made  by  the  Gen- 
eral Conferences  of  1836  and  1840."^ 

At  that  time  the  new  organization  contained  459,569 
members,  in  which  were  included  1 5  19  traveling  preachers. 
Of  these  members  124,961  were  colored. 

1  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,"  by  Gross  Alex- 
ander ('"  American  Church  History,"  vol.  ii.),  p.  48. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

A    CALM    SURVEY. 

In  reviewing  this  controversy  in  the  colder  and  clearer 
light  of  the  present  day,  a  recognition  of  certain  facts  is 
essential  to  the  formation  of  an  impartial  and  equitable 
judgment. 

When  Methodism  arose  in  America  slavery  existed  in 
all  parts  of  the  country,  with  a  tendency  to  increase  rap- 
idly in  the  South.  The  difficulties  to  which  it  gave  rise 
were  far  greater  in  the  South  than  in  the  North.  The  re- 
strictions upon  freedom  of  speech,  which  are  necessary  to 
enforce  subordination  and  preserve  social  order  where  slav- 
ery exists,  embarrassed  and  almost  prevented  discussion  of 
the  merits  and  demerits  of  the  institution.  In  the  North, 
where  the  number  of  slaves  gradually  diminished  until  they 
disappeared,  the  only  impediments  to  public  consideration 
of  the  subject  arose  from  commercial  and  social  connection 
with  the  South  and  the  intermingling  of  political  parties. 

In  the  South  agriculture  and  the  sale  of  its  products 
offered  a  much  larger  field  for  slave  labor  than  could  be 
found  in  the  North,  where  manufactures  and  commerce 
predominated ;  and  while  the  warmth  of  the  Southern  cli- 
mate reduced  the  cost  of  maintaining  slaves,  it  acted  as  an 
impediment  to  white  labor. 

Little  by  little,  the  spirit  of  Methodism  became  less  ag- 
gressive and  more  indulgent  toward  an  institution  relent- 

464 


OLIN'S  MASTERLY  ANALYSIS.  465 

lessly  denounced  by  Coke  and  for  a  time  by  Asbury. 
When,  after  many  changes,  a  general  conviction  had  arisen 
in  the  South  that  slavery  was  a  permanent  institution,  the 
abolition  movement  arose  in  the  North  and  conflict  was 
unavoidable. 

An  organized  effort  to  crush  abolitionism  was  made  in 
the  Conference  of  1836  and  culminated  in  that  of  1840. 
Meanwhile,  in  New  England  and  those  parts  of  the  West 
settled  largely  by  New  Englanders,  abolitionism  grew  until 
it  became  a  predominant  sentiment. 

The  only  speech  delivered  in  the  General  Conference 
of  1844  which  exhibited  a  full  comprehension  and  just 
estimate  of  all  sides  of  the  subject  was  that  of  Stephen 
Olin,  who  was  as  familiar  with  the  North  as  with  the 
South. 

He  explained  the  rise  of  the  abolition  excitement  in 
New  England  and  the  other  Northern  States,  and  affirmed 
that  "  the  interests,  the  purposes,  and  the  measures  which 
seem  at  this  time  to  unite  the  North  in  sympathy  have 
not  originated  with  abolitionists,  usually  so  called  "  ;  that 
the  New  York  and  Troy  conferences  were  not  and  never 
had  been  abolition  conferences,  but,  together  with  many 
other  Northern  conferences,  they  had  firmly  opposed  that 
movement ;  and  that,  generally  speaking,  Northern  Meth- 
odists regarded  "  slavery  as  a  great  evil,  though  not  nec- 
essarily a  sin."  He  thus  analyzed  the  origin  of  antislavery 
sentiment :  "  Brethren  fall  into  a  great  error  in  imagining 
that  all  the  abolition  influence  abroad  in  the  Northern 
churches  originated  in  them.  On  the  contrary,  our  com- 
mon newspapers,  the  contests  and  canvasses  connected 
with  our  elections,  our  political  literature,  are  rife  with 
abolitionism  on  other  and  broader  grounds.  It  is  perhaps 
to  be  regretted  that  this  embarrassing  subject  is  so  much 
discussed  at  the  North,  but  it  is  certainlv  true  that  Meth- 


466  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xvm. 

odists  here  derive  their  sentiments  chiefly  from  such 
sources  as  I  have  intimated — from  their  reading  and  from 
intercourse  with  their  fellow-citizens.  They  are  abolition- 
ists naturally  and  unavoidably  because  they  breathe  the 
atmosphere  of  this  country ;  because  the  sea  is  open  to 
free  adventure,  and  their  freighted  ships  bring  home  peri- 
odicals and  books  from  all  the  countries  of  Europe,  tinged 
or,  if  any  prefer,  infected  with  these  views.  The  difficul- 
ties of  this  question,  then,  do  not  arise  chiefly  from  its  re- 
lation to  abolitionism  in  the  church,  but  from  the  general 
condition  of  feeling  among  the  people  of  the  non-slave- 
holding  States." 

Contrasting  the  difficulties  in  the  South  with  those  in 
the  North,  he  said:  "  I  know  the  difficulties  in  the  South. 
I  know  the  excitement  that  is  likely  to  prevail  among  the 
people  there.  Yet,  allowing  our  worst  fears  all  to  be  real- 
ized, the  South  will  have  this  advantage  over  us :  the 
Southern  forces  are  likely,  in  any  event,  to  harmonize 
among  themselves ;  they  will  form  a  compact  body.  In 
our  Northern  conferences  this  will  be  impossible  in  the 
present  state  of  things.  They  cannot  bring  their  whole 
people  to  act  together  on  one  common  ground ;  stations 
and  circuits  will  be  so  weakened  and  broken  as  in  many 
instances  to  be  unable  to  sustain  their  minister." 

This  was  absolutely  true.  When,  in  1843,  the  secession 
of  Orange  Scott  and  his  colleagues  took  place  nothing  was 
more  certain  than  that,  if  Andrew  as  a  slave-holder  were 
allowed  to  exercise  his  episcopal  functions,  a  general  se- 
cession in  New  England  would  follow,  and  that  agitation 
and  contention  would  prevail,  accompanied  by  withdrawals 
in  many  churches  in  the  North  and  West  and  in  some  of 
the  Middle  States. 

That  different  views  of  the  constitution  concerning  the 
powers  of  the  episcopacy  had  grown  up,  diverging  more 


THE  ISSUES  INVOLVED.  467 

and  more,  and  that  they  were  held  by  a  large  majority  in 
the  South  and  by  a  strong  minority  in  the  North,  are  facts 
of  fundamental  importance  in  estimating  this  controversy. 
Joshua  Soule,  whose  hand  was  upon  every  letter  and  line 
of  the  constitution,  threw  the  unequaled  weight  of  his  in- 
fluence into  the  scale  against  the  right  of  the  conference 
to  request  Andrew  to  desist,  interpreting  such  a  resolu- 
tion as  equivalent  to  a  deposition.  In  harmony  with  that 
view,  the  majority  of  the  speakers  on  the  Southern  side 
opposed  on  two  grounds  the  contemplated  action :  that, 
under  the  circumstances,  Andrew  had  a  disciplinary  right 
to  hold  slaves,  and  that,  whether  he  had  or  not,  he  could 
only  be  dealt  with  by  the  process  of  a  trial ;  and  their 
more  powerful  paragraphs  were  based  upon  the  alleged 
denial  of  constitutional  rights. 

It  is  indisputable  that  to  depose  Andrew  without  a  trial 
would  have  been  unconstitutional.  To  charge  him  by  res- 
olution with  "  sin  "  without  proceeding  to  put  him  upon 
trial  would  have  been  libelous ;  to  request  the  bishops  not 
to  assign  him  work  would  have  been  nugatory,  since  with 
their  views  their  constitutional  duties  would  have  required 
them  to  disregard  the  request.  But  to  ask  him  to  desist  from 
the  exercise  of  his  functions,  it  being  expressly  understood 
that  the  responsibility  of  deciding  whether  to  continue  rested 
upon  himself,  whether  expedient  or  inexpedient,  was  not 
a  violation  of  the  constitution  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Nevertheless,  in  defending  this  view  Hamline 
went  so  far  that  it  will  ever  remain  mysterious  that  such  a 
passage  as  this  could  have  been  received  without  a  univer- 
sal cry  of  disapprobation  :  "  Our  church  constitution  rec- 
ognizes the  episcopacy  as  an  abstraction,  and  leaves  this 
body  to  work  it  in  a  concrete  form  in  any  hundred  or 
more  ways  we  may  be  able  to  invent.  We  may  make 
one,  five,  or  twenty  bishops,  and  if  we  please  one  for  each 


468  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap,  xviii. 

conference.  We  may  refuse  to  elect  any  until  all  die  or 
resign,  and  then,  to  maintain  the  episcopacy,  which  we 
are  bound  to  do,  we  must  elect  one  at  least." 

Yet  this  passage  is  practically  contradicted  in  the  same 
speech  by  another  utterance  with  respect  to  the  powers 
of  the  General  Conference  over  the  episcopacy,  namely : 
"  It  can  resume,  then,  all  the  powers  granted  to  the  bishop 
by  its  own  act,  exxept  such  prerogatives  as  are  essential 
to  episcopacy  and  superintendency. "  As  the  other  taken 
by  itself  would  assume  the  power  to  render  impracticable 
"  the  plan  of  our  itinerant  superintendency  "  which  is  pro- 
tected by  the  constitution,  so  this  passage  taken  by  itself 
would  protect  that  plan.  Since  "  episcopacy  and  superin- 
tendency," that  is,  the  itinerant  general  superintendency, 
would  require  a  sufficient  number  of  bishops  to  accomplish 
the  work,  the  episcopacy  is  not  an  abstraction,  but  a  con- 
crete institution,  defined  and  defended  in  the  Discipline 
at  the  time  the  institution  was  adopted. 

The  correction  made  by  Hamline  in  reply  to  Smith, 
taken  in  connection  with  this  extravagant  statement,  is 
necessary  to  guard  his  meaning.  So  great  are  the  force 
and  discrimination  of  statement  exhibited  in  his  speech 
that  it  is  clear  that,  in  the  absence  of  a  burning  issue, 
Hamline  would  have  been  more  cautious  in  the  use  of 
terms.  As  it  was,  he  was  no  further  from  tlie  original 
principles  of  Methodism  in  the  extreme  statements  of  the 
powers  of  the  General  Conference  than  were  some  upon 
the  other  side,  who  practically  denied  the  right  of  the 
body  to  protect  the  church  against  any  single  act  or  pe- 
culiarity of  a  bishop  or  series  thereof  in  conduct  or  per- 
sonality, developed  after  his  election,  which  actions  did  not 
bring  him  under  the  jurisdiction  of  a  special  rule  of  Disci- 
pline. 

The  resolution  of  the  Southern  delegates  communicated 


IRRITATING   COMPLICATIONS.  469 

to  Andrew,  whereby  he  was  deterred  from  resigning,  was 
not  adapted  to  promote  a  peaceful  settlement  of  the  diffi- 
culty.    It  reads  thus : 

"  Whereas,  Bishop  Andrew  has  signified  to  the  dele- 
gates of  the  conference  in  the  slave-holding  States  a  pur- 
pose to  yield  to  the  present  distressing  urgency  of  the 
brethren  from  the  Northern  States,  and  resign  his  office  of 
bishop ;  and  WHEREAS,  In  a  meeting  of  said  delegates  to 
consider  this  matter,  after  solemn  prayer  and  much  delib- 
eration, it  appears  to  us  that  his  resignation  would  inflict 
an  incurable  wound  on  the  whole  South  and  inevitably 
lead  to  division  in  the  church;  therefore,  we  do  unani- 
mously concur  in  requesting  the  bishop,  by  all  his  love 
for  the  unity  of  the  church,  which  his  resignation  will  cer- 
tainly jeopardize,  not  to  allow  himself  for  any  considera- 
tion to  resign." 

Nor  was  the  speech  of  Andrew  calculated  to  make 
peace.  Although  it  be  granted  that  something  had  to  be 
done  to  preserve  the  Northern  societies  from  disintegration 
or  from  wholesale -secession,  and  conceded  that  the  agita- 
tion had  developed  a  condition  of  affairs  in  the  Southern 
churches  which  embarrassed  them  fully  as  much  as  did  the 
opposite  state  their  brethren  at  the  North,  nevertheless  it 
is  one  of  the  wonders  of  ecclesiastical  history  that  a  plan 
of  separation  based  on  a  conjectural  hypothesis  should 
have  been  deliberately  adopted  by  a  General  Conference. 

Stated  in  the  simplest  terms,  the  plan  amounted  to  this  : 
A  majority  of  nearly  two  thirds  said,  "  We  must  request 
Bishop  J.  O.  Andrew  to  desist  from  the  exercise  of  his 
functions  so  long  as  he  remains  connected  with  slavery." 
More  than  one  third  responded,  "  Bishop  Andrew  offered 
to  resign,  but  we  have  told  him  that  it  is  necessary  that 
he  force  the  issue  to  save  the  Southern  churches,  and  we 
also  say  to  you  that,  as  you  have  asked  him  to  desist  from 


470  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap,  xviii. 

the  exercise  of  his  functions,  we  think  it  highly  improba- 
ble that  it  will  be  possible  for  us  to  continue  our  work  in 
connection  with  your  body."  The  majority  responded, 
"  If  that  be  so  we  will  prepare  an  easy  plan  for  you  to 
withdraw  from  us,  leaving  the  matter  of  your  going  en- 
tirely to  your  judgment."  They  were  willing  to  do  this 
without  consulting  their  constituents,  not  one  of  whom 
ever  dreamed  that  such  a  proposition  could  be  seriously 
contemplated.  If,  however,  they  could  proceed  thus  far, 
it  was  but  natural  for  them  to  say,  "  As  we  have  accumu- 
lated a  large  property  in  common,  we  will  submit  to  our 
constituents  a  recommendation  so  to  change  the  restrictive 
rules  that  that  property  may  be  amicably  divided  and  the 
mutual  rights  of  the  sundered  parties  satisfactorily  ad- 
justed." 

It  is  true  that  the  Southern  delegates  voted  in  favor  of 
the  plan,  but  as  they  alone  could  not  have  enacted  it,  those 
responsible  for  it  included  nearly  all  who  had  requested 
Andrew  to  desist.  Doubtless  some  voted  for  it  in  the 
hope  that  so  amicable  a  measure  would  prevent  separation. 
That  any  could  entertain  such  an  expectation  is  inexpli- 
cable, except  upon  the  assumption  that  fifty-two  years  ago 
the  methods  of  ascertaining  public  sentiment  in  different 
sections  of  the  country  were  much  circumscribed  and  that 
a  large  part  of  the  Northern  delegates  knew  little  or  noth- 
ing of  the  South. 

The  Reply  to  the  Protest  declares  that "  the  vote  would 
doubtless  have  been  unanimous  but  for  the  belief  that  some 
entertained  of  the  unconstitutionality  of  the  measure." 
The  fact  that  there  was  not  a  majority  who  entertained 
such  a  doubt  is  the  inscrutable  problem  of  the  unparalleled 
controversy. 

It  must  strike  the  calm  observer  as  a  serious  impropri- 
ety, if  not  a  usurpation,  for  the  General  Conference,  with- 


IF?  471 

out  submitting  each  and  every  part  of  it  to  all  the  confer- 
ences, to  enact  legislation  based  on  the  possibility  of  a 
separation  contingent  upon  the  judgment  of  the  departing 
members  and  ministers.  A  representative  body  making 
final  provision  for  a  possible  separation  is  an  anomaly. 
The  case  of  Canada  was,  when  adjusted,  relatively  to  the 
whole,  in  numbers  and  property  a  small  question  and  dealt 
with  a  population  which  was  under  another  civil  govern- 
ment. This  situation  contemplated  a  division  of  magni- 
tude within  the  same  country  and  almost  wholly  on  geo- 
graphical lines. 

Had  Andrew  taken  all  the  steps  legally  within  his  reach 
to  disconnect  himself  from  slavery  before  the  General 
Conference  of  1844  met,  he  might  have  delayed  the  in- 
evitable crisis.  In  view  of  the  widespread  excitement  on 
the  slavery  question  in  the  church,  that  he  should  have 
allowed  himself  to  be  the  spark  that  precipitated  the  ex- 
plosion is  surprising. 

Smith,  the  biographer  of  Andrew,  affirms  that  he  had 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  by  marrying  a  woman  who 
owned  slaves  he  would  cause  strife,  and  that  "  if  he  had 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  results  which  did  follow  would 
have  followed,  the  marriage  should  have  been  preceded 
by  resignation."  Dr.  Gross  Alexander,  commenting  upon 
this  passage  in  his  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,"  ^  says,  "  If  Bishop  Andrew  did  not  know 
the  history  of  the  slavery  agitation  in  the  church  and 
country  and  the  attitude  of  the  two  sections  well  enough 
to  have  reason  for  fearing  that  his  marrying  a  slave-owner 
would  occasion  serious  trouble,  then,  for  a  man  in  his  po- 
sition, his  ignorance  was  inexcusable.  If  he  did  know 
these  things  and  was  indifferent  to  them,  his  indifference 

1  "American  Church  History,"  voL  xi.,  p.  20. 


472  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai>.  xviii. 

was  more  inexcusable.  In  any  case,  his  position  in  1844 
is  not  one  to  be  envied." 

As  there  were  comparatively  few  newspapers  in  those 
days,  and,  with  the  exception  of  "  Zion's  Herald,"  the 
papers  of  the  church  had  little  to  say  upon  the  subject  of 
abolitionism,  except  in  condemnation,  and  as  Andrew  had 
not  traveled  in  New  England,  but  had  spent  the  principal 
part  of  his  life  in  the  West  and  South,  holding  but  few 
conferences  even  in  the  Middle  States,  it  is  possible  that 
he  did  not  have  reason  to  anticipate  the  excitement.  He 
was  surrounded  by  ministerial  slave-holders.  Olin  when 
in  the  South  had  been  such,  and  on  removing  to  the  North 
sold  his  slaves,  retaining  the  proceeds.  Capers,  on  whom 
the  General  Conference  had  conferred  positions  of  great 
importance,  was  a  slave-holder,  and  Andrew  himself  had 
been  a  slave-holder  for  some  years  before  this  marriage. 
His  biographer  asserts  that  until  he  reached  Baltimore  in 
April,  on  his  way  to  the  General  Conference  in  New  York, 
he  was  not  aware  that  any  attention  had  been  called  to  it. 

In  a  letter  to  his  daughter,  written  in  the  midst  of  the 
discussion,  Andrew  said,  "  I  would  most  joyfully  resign  if 
I  did  not  dread  the  influence  on  the  Southern  church." 
Referring  to  the  protest  of  the  slave-holding  States  against 
his  resignation  under  any  circumstances  as  ruinous  to  the 
whole  Southern  portion  of  the  church,  he  says,  "  I  believe, 
in  fact,  they  are  solemnly  pledged  if  I  resign  that  they 
will  to  a  man  secede  from  the  conference." 

Nevertheless  we  can  but  wonder  what  the  effect  would 
have  been  if  he  had  said  to  his  brethren  of  the  South,  "  I 
cannot  be  the  occasion  of  a  division  of  the  church.  I  must 
resign.  I  will  sacrifice  my  pride  on  the  altar  of  unity.  If, 
then,  the  abolitionists  will  proceed  to  the  extreme  of  taking 
away  our  disciplinary  rights,  we  can  establish  a  new  branch 
of  Methodism  on  a  broader  foundation  than  unkind  treat- 


DURBIN'S  PROFFER    OF  DELAY.  473 

ment  of  a  single  official."  Perhaps  he  might  have  per- 
suaded a  majority  to  allow  him  to  resign  ;  or,  failing  in  that, 
had  he  resigned  the  reaction  might  have  given  the  church 
peace  for  several  years. 

Such  suppositions,  however,  are  checked  by  the  fact 
that  the  present  generation  possesses  only  the  words  that 
were  spoken,  and  not  all  of  those.  The  tones,  the  ges- 
tures, the  subtle,  unreportable  spirit  of  that  historic  debate 
are  beyond  the  possibility  of  scrutiny. 

That  every  resolution  was  presented  which  could  possi- 
bly offer  a  hope  of  peace  indicates  an  intense  desire  on 
the  part  of  a  large  majority  of  both  parties  to  avoid  the 
necessity  of  separation.  Besides  those  formally  offered, 
.  Durbin,  at  the  close  of  a  speech  of  marvelous  lucidity  and 
pathos,  read  a  resolution  which  he  said  he  would  willingly 
offer  if  he  had  the  least  intimation  that  the  brethren  of  the 
South  would  meet  those  of  the  North  upon  it: 

"  Resolved,  That  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew  be  referred 
to  the  church,  and  that  the  judgment  of  the  next  General 
Conference  be  deemed  and  taken  to  be  the  voice  of  the 
church  whether  Bishop  Andrew  shall  continue  to  exercise 
his  functions  as  a  general  superintendent  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  while  he  sustains  the  relation  to  slavery 
as  stated  in  his  communication  to  the  conference,  as  re- 
ported to  the  conference  by  the  committee  on  the  episco- 
pacy." 

This  was  without  authority  or  precedent,  and,  if  adopted, 
would  doubtless  have  accentuated  the  sectional  issue,  be- 
sides lighting  a  torch  of  controversy  in  every  Methodist 
church  in  the  land. 

Protracted  and  intense  agitation  had  led  extreme  aboli- 
tionists to  the  conclusion  that  slave-holding  under  any  cir- 
cumstances is  a  sin,  while  slave-holders  had  drifted  so  far 
in  the  other  direction  as  to  believe  it  a  providential  insti- 


474  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap,  xviii. 

tution,  and  many  denied  that  it  could  properly  be  re- 
garded as  a  moral  evil.  It  may  be  that  the  burden  upon 
human  nature  was  too  great  for  any  other  outcome ;  that 
the  collision  was  predestinated  and  preliminary  to  even 
greater  things  than  these.  Porter,  of  New  England,  an 
uncompromising  abolitionist,  who  led  the  party  that  in- 
duced Hedding  to  withdraw  his  name  from  the  letter  of 
the  bishops,  and  who  was  a  member  of  the  Committee  of 
Nine  and  published  a  "  Comprehensive  History  of  Meth- 
odism "  in  1875,  is  disposed  to  take  a  charitable  view  of  the 
struggle  :  "  In  looking  at  this  long-continued  controversy, 
we  find  it  everywhere  marked  by  human  infirmity,  to  say 
the  least  of  it.  We  are  not  much  disposed  to  sit  in  judg- 
ment on  the  parties  involved.  None  of  them  can  take  great 
merit  to  themselves.  If  abolitionists  had  been  brought  up 
in  the  South  they  would  probably  have  acted  much  as 
Southerners  did,  and  vice  versa." 

He  takes  refuge  in  the  comforting  thought  that  Provi- 
dence overruled  the  conduct  of  church  and  state  so  as  to 
promote  emancipation,  a  method  often  resorted  to  after 
great  crises,  but  which,  according  to  the  theology  of  uni- 
versal Methodism,  does  not  relieve  the  actors  of  responsi- 
bility for  their  spirit,  methods,  words,  and  deeds. 

At  that  very  time  there  were  those  who  foresaw  the 
baleful  influence  which  this  controversy,  the  principles, 
prejudices,  arguments,  and  facts  underlying  it,  and  the 
spirit  which  it  engendered,  would  exert  upon  the  relations 
of  the  States  of  the  South  to  those  of  the  North.  Henry 
Clay's  prescience  and  patriotism  led  him  to  write  the  fol- 
lowing letter: 

"  Ash  T.AM),  .-Vpril  7,  1S45. 

"  Dear  Sir  :  Our  mutual  friend,  Mr.  Mitchell,  of  Frank- 
fort, delivered  to  me  the  day  before  yesterday  your  letter, 
with  several  publications  under  your  name  in  regard  to 


HENRY  CLAY'S  FOREBODINGS.  475 

the  unfortunate  controversy  which  has  arisen  in  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  of  the  United  States,  all  of  which 
I  have  attentively  perused.  You  desire  an  expression  of 
my  opinion  on  certain  inquiries  communicated  in  your 
letter. 

"  I  have  long  entertained  for  that  church  sentiments  of 
profound  esteem  and  regard,  and  I  have  the  happiness  of 
numbering  among  its  members  some  of  the  best  friends  I 
have  in  the  world.  I  will  add  with  great  truth  that  I  have 
witnessed  with  much  satisfaction  the  flourishing  condition 
of  the  church  and  the  good  sense  and  wisdom  which  have 
generally  characterized  the  administration  of  its  affairs,  as 
far  as  I  have  observed  it. 

"  It  was,  therefore,  with  the  deepest  regret  that  I  heard 
in  the  course  of  the  past  year  of  the  danger  of  a  division 
of  the  church  in  consequence  of  a  difference  of  opinion  ex- 
isting on  the  delicate  and  unhappy  subject  of  slavery.  A 
division  for  such  a  cause  would  be  an  event  greatly  to  be 
deplored,  both  on  account  of  the  church  itself  and  its  po- 
litical tendency.  Indeed,  scarcely  any  public  occurrence 
has  happened  for  a  long  time  that  gave  me  so  much  real 
concern  and  pain  as  the  menaced  separation  of  the  church 
by  a  line  throwing  all  the  free  States  on  one  side  and  all 
the  slave  States  on  the  other. 

"  I  will  not  say  that  such  a  separation  would  necessarily 
produce  a  dissolution  of  the  political  union  of  these  States ; 
but  the  example  would  be  fraught  with  imminent  danger, 
and,  in  cooperation  with  other  causes  unfortunately  exist- 
ing, its  tendency  on  the  stability  of  the  confederacy  would 
be  perilous  and  alarming. 

"  Entertaining  these  views,  it  would  afford  me  the  high- 
est satisfaction  to  hear  of  an  adjustment  of  the  contro- 
versy, a  reconciliation  between  the  opposing  parties  in  the 
church,  and  the  preservation  of  its  unity. 


476  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai'.  xviii. 

"  I  limit  myself  to  the  political  aspect  of  the  subject, 
without  expressing  any  opinion  on  either  of  the  plans  of 
compromise  and  settlement  which  have  been  published, 
which  I  could  not  do  without  exposing  myself  to  improper 
imputations. 

"  With  fervent  hopes  and  wishes  that  some  arrangement 
of  the  difficulty  may  be  devised  and  agreed  upon  which 
shall  preserve  the  church  in  union  and  harmony, 
"  I  am,  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"  H.  Clay. 

"Dr.  W.  A.  Booth." 

There  is  reason  to  suppose  that  certain  statesmen  who 
were  themselves  willing  to  resume  the  sovereignty  of  the 
State  preparatory  to  the  formation  of  a  new  confeder- 
ation— a  Union  in  which  slavery  should  be  recognized 
without  restriction — regarded  the  event  as  a  step  in  the 
right  direction.  Be  that  as  it  may,  no  evidence  exists  that 
those  possibilities  warped  the  judgment  or  influenced  the 
action  of  any  of  the  participants  in  the  discussion  and 
legislation  of  the  General  Conference  of  1844,  which  led 
to  the  addition  of  another  to  the  long  list  of  Protestant 
denominations. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

FROM   THE    ECCLESIASTICAL   TO   THE  NATIONAL  CRISIS. 

A  PECULIAR  interest  inheres  in  all  the  transactions  of 
the  General  Conference  of  1844,  since  that  was  the  last 
held  by  undivided  Episcopal  Methodism.  Early  in  the 
session  the  Rev.  Edmund  S.  Janes,  financial  secretary  of 
the  American  Bible  Society,  was  invited  to  take  a  seat 
within  the  bar  of  the  house,  and  to  speak  on  subjects  con- 
nected with  the  Bible  cause.  William  Nast  was  by  reso- 
lution permitted  to  visit  Germany  with  a  view  to  more 
extended  usefulness  among  his  brethren  of  that  nation. 

The  committee  on  episcopacy  reported,  on  the  7th  of 
June,  that,  owing  to  the  want  of  time  and  opportunity, 
it  had  not  arrived  at  any  conclusion  regarding  the  num- 
ber of  bishops  necessary  to  be  elected,  and  asked  to  be 
relieved  from  further  action  on  the  subject.  The  con- 
ference decided  on  the  afternoon  of  that  day  to  elect  two 
bishops.  On  the  first  ballot  no  one  was  elected,  and  after 
the  second  ballot,  which  was  declared  irregular.  Capers 
moved  that  the  conference  by  a  rising  vote  sustain  the 
election  of  E.  S.  Janes.  On  this  the  previous  question 
was  moved,  but  not  sustained.  Preliminary  to  the  third 
ballot  the  secretaries  were  ordered  to  call  the  roll,  and  each 
delegate  went  to  the  secretaries'  desk  and  deposited  his 
vote.  Leonidas  S.  Hamline  received  one  hundred  and 
two,  Edmund  S.  Janes  ninety-nine,  and  both  were  elected. 
Hamline  was  presented  for  ordination   by  Pickering  and 

477 


478  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xix. 

Fillmore,  of  the  North,  and  Janes  by  L.  Pierce  and  Capers, 
of  the  South.  The  imposition  of  hands  was  by  Bishops 
Soule,  Hedding,  Waugh,  and  Morris. 

Janes,  who  had  neither  been  connected  with  any  General 
Conference  nor  taken  part  in  the  controversies  upon  slav- 
ery, had  traveled  extensively  in  the  South  and  was 
preeminently  the  choice  of  that  part  of  the  connection. 
McTyeire  says :  "  Two  bishops  were  to  be  elected,  and 
the  last  service  of  the  conservative  South  to  the  yet  undi- 
vided church  was  rendered  here.  The  elements  that 
united  in  the  choice  of  Hamline  will  readily  occur  to  the 
reader,  but  the  Southern  delegates  brought  forward  and 
concentrated  on  Edmund  S.  Janes.  As  one  of  the  secre- 
taries of  the  American  Bible  Society  he  had  become 
known  to  them,  and  none  could  know  him  without  per- 
ceiving his  great  worth  and  abilities."  ^ 

Janes,  twin  brother  of  Edwin  L.,  also  a  minister,  was  a 
native  of  Sheffield,  Mass.,  the  son  of  a  carpenter,  and  in 
the  summer  worked  on  a  farm,  attending  school  in  the 
winter  until  seventeen.  He  became  a  Christian  at  the  age 
of  thirteen,  and  in  his  twentieth  year  began  the  study 
of  law,  being  in  due  time  admitted  to  the  bar.  The  sud- 
den death  of  his  prospective  partner  led  to  serious  re- 
flection, and  he  turned  to  the  ministry,  entering  the 
Philadelphia  Conference  in  1830,  and,  owing  to  his  clear- 
ness of  statement,  which  made  financial  questions  intelli- 
gible and  interesting  to  the  ordinary  mind,  in  two  years 
was  appointed  financial  agent  for  Dickinson  College.  He' 
was  pastor  in  Philadelphia  from  1836  to  1838,  was  then 
transferred  to  Mulberry  Street  Church  in  New  York,  and 
at  the  end  of  his  term  was  elected  secretary  of  the  Bible 
Society.  He  was  a  man  of  inflexible  uprightness,  indom- 
itable will,  and  unusual  spirituality.     While  in  Philadelphia 

1  "  History  of  Methodism,"  p.  639. 


JANES  AND  HAM  LINE   ELECTED  BISHOPS.         479 

he  pursued  the  study  of  medicine,  not  designing  to  prac- 
tice, but  from  a  love  of  knowledge  and  a  desire  to  qualify 
himself  further  for  the  prosecution  of  his  ministerial  work. 
He  was  always  self-possessed,  and  united  the  two  principal 
elements  of  a  perfect  style — simplicity  and  purity  of  lan- 
guage. He  passed  his  thirty-seventh  birthday  on  the  27th 
of  the  April  preceding  his  election. 

Hamline's  votes  came  exclusively  from  the  delegations 
that  had  carried  the  measures  opposed  by  the  South  ;  Janes 
received  fifty-one  Southern  votes  and  forty-eight  from  the 
rest  of  the  connection.  He  was  highly  esteemed  in  the 
North  and  probably  had  not  an  enemy  in  the  world ;  but 
it  is  probable  that  the  motion  of  Capers  to  elect  him  by  a 
rising  vote  diminished  his  natural  Northern  vote. 

Hamline  was  a  native  of  Connecticut;  he  had  been 
somewhat  wild  in  youth,  and  skeptical ;  partly  educated 
for  the  ministry,  he  turned  to  the  law  and  was  already 
practicing  when,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  was  con- 
verted, and  immediately  began  preaching,  entering  the 
Ohio  Conference ;  where,  being  assigned  to  circuit  work 
in  a  rough  country,  he  showed  himself  so  great  a  master 
of  religious  assemblies  as  to  be  at  once  demanded  by  the 
first  churches  in  the  cities  of  Ohio.  He  filled  editorial 
positions  from  1836  until  his  election  as  bishop,  the  first 
four  years  as  assistant  to  Elliot,  of  the  "  Western  Christian 
Advocate,"  and  the  last  four  as  editor  of  the  "  Ladies' 
Repository."  His  appearance  was  commanding;  his  fea- 
tures were  dark  and  expressive  of  thought  and  feeling 
under  perfect  control.  Thomas  M.  Eddy  says  that  his 
voice  was  musical  and  deep-toned,  and  that  his  eye  had 
a  power  which  he  himself  felt  at  the  time  of  writing, 
though  years  had  passed  since  he  came  under  its  influ- 
ence. As  a  preacher  he  combined,  in  an  extraordinary 
degree,  culture,  oratory,  and  emotion. 


480  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chai>.  xix. 

George  Peck  was  elected  editor  of  the  "  Quarterly  Re- 
view," T.  E.  Bond  of  the  "  Christian  Advocate  and  Jour- 
nal," Edward  Thomson  of  the  "  Ladies'  Repository," 
Charles  Elliot  of  the  "Western  Christian  Advocate,"  Le- 
roy  M.  Lee  of  the  Richmond,  William  M.  Wightman  of 
the  Southern,  J.  B.  McFerrin  of  the  Southwestern,  Wil- 
liam M.  Hunter  of  the  Pittsburg,  and  Nelson  Rounds  of 
the  Northern,  Daniel  P.  Kidder  of  the  "  Sunday-school 
Advocate "  and  also  of  Sabbath-school  books,  William 
Nast  of  the  "  Apologete."  Charles  Pitman  was  chosen  cor- 
responding secretary  of  the  Missionary  Society.  George 
Lane  was  elected  principal  book-agent  at  New  York, 
Charles  B.  Tippett  assistant ;  Leroy  Swormstedt  prin- 
cipal, and  John  T.  Mitchell  assistant  book-agent  at  Cin- 
cinnati. 

The  constitution  of  the  Missionary  Society  was  revised, 
and  that  of  the  Sunday-school  Union  amended. 

The  proposed  change  in  the  Sixth  Restrictive  Rule 
concerning  the  division  of  the  Book  Concern  was  duly 
submitted  to  the  Annual  Conferences,  The  New  York 
gave  its  approval  at  once.  The  "  Western  Christian  Ad- 
vocate," however,  attacked  the  action  of  the  General  Con- 
ference and  took  strong  ground  against  the  alteration  of 
the  rule.  The  vote  of  the  Ohio  Conference  was  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-two  to  one.  Though  all  the  Southern 
conferences  voted  in  favor  of  it,  the  affirmative  lacked  two 
hundred  and  sixty-nine  of  the  requisite  three  quarters,  the 
negative  vote  being  ten  hundred  and  seventy. 

The  Methodist  General  Biblical  Institute  was  opened 
at  Concord,  N.  H.,  in  1847,  ^"^  was  the  first  distinctively 
theological  institution  established  by  American  Metho- 
dism. It  was  opposed  by  many  eminent  ministers,  who 
believed  that  it  would  impede  the  progress  and  prob- 
ably change  the  character  of  Methodism ;  that  such  insti- 


BORDER    WARFARE.  48 1 

tutions  might  become  breeding-places  for  heresy,  and  the 
means  of  substituting  education  for  the  call  of  God  and 
intellectual  qualifications  for  a  living  experience.  Con- 
nected with  the  early  history  of  this  institution  were 
Stephen  M.  Vail,  Osmon  C.  Baker,  and  John  Dempster. 

The  Baltimore,  Pittsburg,  Philadelphia,  and  Ohio  con- 
ferences bordered  upon  the  territory  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  as  they  included  the  States 
of  Maryland,  Delaware,  and  a  part  of  the  State  of  Vir- 
ginia, they  became  a  battle-ground.  At  first  both  parties 
seemed  to  be  disposed  to  keep  peace  along  the  border. 
The  South  made  no  change  in  the  rule  regarding  slavery, 
in  part  for  the  sake  of  peace  and  to  avoid  the  charge  of 
being  a  pro-slavery  church,  and  doubtless  in  part  to  be 
acceptable  to  such  border  churches  and  ministers  as,  be- 
cause of  contiguity  or  social  considerations,  might  natu- 
rally wish  to  affiliate  with  them.  Many  conferences  in  the 
North,  as  well  as  the  editors  of  the  "  Christian  Advocate  " 
and  "  Zion's  Herald,"  took  the  ground  that  concerning 
slavery  no  change  in  the  Discipline  was  required ;  but  the 
abolitionists  of  New  England,  led  by  James  Porter,  printed 
a  communication  in  "  Zion's  Herald,"  entitled  "  Things  as 
They  Are,"  taking  issue  with  these  papers  and  "giving 
all  parties  to  understand  that  abolitionism  was  in  full 
force. "^  This  rekindled  the  fire,  and  through  the  South 
and,  along  the  border  ministers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  were  stigmatized  as  abolitionists  and  incendiaries, 
while  the  charge  was  hurled  against  the  church  South 
that  it  was  a  pro-slavery  church.  In  the  more  uncivilized 
sections  mobs  arose,  and  Northern  and  Southern  secular 
and  religious  newspapers  fed  the  flame.  Such  conten- 
tions were  to  be  expected,  and  were  the  more  bitter  be- 
cause in  many  instances  members  of   the  same  families 

1  Matlack's  "  Antislavery  Struggle  and  Triumph." 


482  THE   METIIODISIS.  [Chap.  xix. 

took  opposite  sides  and  acted  in  harmony  with  their  posi- 
tions. 

As  the  General  Conference  approached,  opposition  to 
the  action  of  the  preceding  conference  increased.  When 
the  General  Conference  convened  in  Pittsburg  it  repre- 
sented 780  traveling  preachers  and  532,290  members  less 
than  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  numbered  four  years 
before.      There  was  but  one  memorial  on  slavery. 

A  communication  was  received  from  Lovick  Pierce, 
delegate  from,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
and  referred  to  the  committee  on  the  state  of  the  church  : 

"  To  the  Bishops  and  Members  of  the  MetJiodist  Episcopal 
CJmrcJi,  in  General  Confei'ence  assembled. 

"  Rev.  and  dear  Brethren  :  The  General  Confer- 
ence of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  appointed 
me  as  their  delegate  to  bear  to  you  the  Christian  saluta- 
tions of  the  church  South,  and  to  assure  you  that  they 
sincerely  desire  that  the  two  great  bodies  of  Wesleyan 
Methodists,  North  and  South,  should  maintain  at  all  times 
a  warm,  confiding,  and  fraternal  relation  to  each  other; 
and  through  me  they  make  this  offer,  and  very  ardently 
desire  that  you,  on  your  part,  will  accept  it  in  the  same 
spirit  of  brotherly  love  and  kindness. 

"  The  acceptance  or  rejection  of  this  proposition  made 
by  your  Southern  brethren  is  entirely  at  your  disposal, 
and,  as  my  situation  is  one  of  painful  solicitude  until  this 
question  is  decided,  you  will  allow  me  to  beg  your  earliest 
attention  to  it. 

"  And  I  would  further  say  that  your  reply  to  this  com- 
munication will  most  gratify  me  if  it  is  made  officially,  in 
the  form  of  resolutions. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully  yours,  in  the 
unity  of  Wesleyan  Methodism, 

"L.  Pierce." 


OVERTURES  REJECTED.  483 

That  committee  reported  that: 

"Whereas,  A  letter  from  Rev.  L.  Pierce,  D.D.,  dele- 
gate of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  propos- 
ing fraternal  relations  between  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  has 
been  presented  to  this  conference ;  and  Whereas,  There 
are  serious  questions  and  difficulties  existing  between  the 
two  bodies ;  therefore, 

''Resolved,  That,  while  we  tender  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Pierce 
all  personal  courtesies,  and  invite  him  to  attend  our  ses- 
sions, this  General  Conference  does  not  consider  it  proper 
at  present  to  enter  into  fraternal  relations  with  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  South. 

"  George  Peck,  Chairman.'' 

This  report  was  adopted  after  being  amended  by 
the  following  words :  "  Provided,  however,  that  nothing 
in  this  resolution  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  operate  as  a 
bar  to  any  propositions  from  Dr.  Pierce,  or  any  other  rep- 
resentative of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
toward  the  settlement  of  existing  difificulties  between  that 
body  and  this." 

Pierce  declined  the  courtesy  of  a  seat  within  the  bar, 
saying,  "  1  can  only  be  known  in  my  official  character. 
You  will  therefore  regard  this  communication  as  final  on 
the  part  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  She 
can  never  renew  the  offer  of  fraternal  relations  between 
■  the  two  great  bodies  of  Wesley  an  Methodists  in  the  United 
States.  But  the  proposition  can  be  renewed  at  any  time 
either  now  or  hereafter  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church ;  and  if  ever  made  on  the  basis  of  the  Plan  of 
Separation,  as  adopted  by  the  General  Conference  of 
1844,  the  church  South  will  cordially  entertain  the  propo- 
sition." 


484  ^'-^/^  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xix. 

The  bishops  were  instructed  to  prepare  a  statement  of 
the  instances  in  which  they  considered  that  the  plan  had 
been  violated  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
in  sending  ministers  and  organizing  societies  within  the 
bounds  of  the  territory  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
This  is  printed  in  the  appendix  to  the  "Journal." 

The  conference  adopted  a  plan  for  the  revision  of  the 
standard  hymn-book. 

Soule  addressed  a  letter  to  the  conference,  giving  an 
account  of  the  action  of  the  Southern  conferences  in  es- 
tablishing the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  testify- 
ing that  their  deliberations  and  decisions  had  been  con- 
ducted with  the  strictest  regard  to  the  provisions  of  that 
plan,  and  in  a  spirit  of  peace,  brotherly  kindness,  and 
charity.  He  declared  that,  though  he  had  adhered  to  the 
church  South,  he  held  himself  amenable  to  the  General 
Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  his  acts 
until  May  i,  1846.  He  alleged  that  Elliot,  of  the  "  West- 
ern Christian  Advocate,"  had  made  statements  which  he 
regarded  as  injurious  to  himself,  affirming  that  he  had 
withdrawn  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  under 
grave  charges,  or  liable  to  them,  and  announced  that  he 
was  present  to  ascertain  if  any  such  were  made  against 
him.  He  expressed  regret  that  they  had  declined  to  rec- 
ognize a  fraternal  relation  to  the  church  South. 

The  conference  resolved  that  "it  is  the  sense  of  this 
General  Conference  that  they  have  no  jurisdiction  over 
the  Rev.  Bishop  Soule,  and  can  exercise  no  ecclesiastical 
authority  over  him." 

From  the  board  of  commissioners  appointed  by  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  to  adjust  tlie  prop- 
erty question  a  communication  was  received,  stating  that 
they  had  informed  the  commissioners  appointed  by  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  their  readiness  to  proceed. 


CONFERENCE  OF  IS48  ON  DISRUPTION  OF  CHURCH.    485 

and  had  been  by  them  referred  to  that  General  Confer- 
ence, and  that  they  were  then  present  in  Pittsburg  ready 
to  negotiate. 

The  final  action  on  questions  relating  to  the  disruption 
of  the  church  was  embodied  in  the  report  on  the  state  of 
the  church  as  amended  on  motion  of  Matthew  Simpson 
and  Daniel  Curry.  The  statement  consisted  of  eight  items, 
adopted  seriatim  under  a  call  of  the  roll : 

"  I.  The  report  of  the  select  Committee  of  Nine,  on  the 
declaration  of  the  delegates  in  the  slave-holding  States, 
adopted  by  the  General  Conference  of  1844,  of  which  the 
memorialists  complain,  and  the  operation  of  which  de- 
prived them  of  their  privileges  as  members  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  was  intended  to  meet  a  necessity 
which  it  was  alleged  might  arise,  and  was  given  as  a 
peace-ofTering  to  secure  harmony  on  our  Southern  border. 

**  2.  It  was  further  made  dependent,  first,  upon  the  con- 
currence of  three  fourths  of  the  members  of  the  several 
Annual  Conferences,  in  reference  to  a  part  of  its  regula- 
tions. 

"  3.  And,  secondly,  upon  the  observance  of  certain  pro- 
visions respecting  a  boundary  by  the  distinct  ecclesiastical 
connection  separating  from  us,  should  such  connection  be 
formed. 

"  4.  Without  waiting,  as  this  conference  believes,  for 
the  occurrence  of  the  anticipated  necessity  for  which  the 
plan  was  framed,  action  was  taken  in  the  premises  by  the 
Southern  delegates. 

"  5.  The  Annual  Conferences,  by  their  votes  officially 
received,  have  refused  to  concur  with  that  part  of  the  plan 
which  was  submitted  to  them. 

"  6.  And  the  provisions  respecting  a  boundary  have 
been  violated  by  the  highest  authorities  of  said  connec- 
tion which  separated  from  us,  and  thereby  the  peace  and 


486  THE  METHODISTS.  [Ciiai-.  xix. 

harmony  of  many  of  the  societies  in  our  Southern  border 
have  been  destroyed. 

"  7.  Therefore,  in  view  of  these  facts,  as  well  as  for  the 
principles  contained  in  the  preceding  declarations,  there 
exists  no  obligation  on  the  part  of  this  conference  to  ob- 
serve the  provisions  of  said  plan. 

"  8.   And  it  is  hereby  declared  null  mid  void.'^ 

It  was  resolved  to  submit  the  disputed  property  claims 
to  the  decision  of  disinterested  arbiters,  unless  the  book- 
agents,  on  the  advice  of  eminent  legal  counsel,  should 
be  satisfied  that,  when  clothed  with  all  the  authority 
which  the  General  Conference  could  confer,  their  corporate 
powers  would  not  warrant  them  to  submit  said  claims 
to  arbitration,  then  this  resolution  should  not  be  binding 
upon  them.  Also  that  if  they  had  not  the  power  to  sub- 
mit the  case  to  voluntary  arbitration,  and  the  commission- 
ers of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  should 
begin  a  lawsuit,  they  were  authorized  to  tender  an  adjust- 
ment of  their  preferred  claims  by  legal  arbitration ;  and 
should  they  find  themselves  not  authorized  to  do  this,  and 
no  suit  should  be  commenced  by  the  commissioners  from 
the  South,  then  the  General  Conference,  being  exceed- 
ingly desirous  of  effecting  an  amicable  settlement  of  said 
claim,  recommended  to  the  Annual  Conferences  to  suspend 
the  Sixth  Restrictive  Rule  so  far  as  to  authorize  the  book- 
agents  to  submit  said  claim  to  arbitration  ;  and  finally,  that 
if  the  above-specified  contingency  should  take  place  the 
bishops  were  requested  to  lay  the  resolution  before  the 
several  Annual  Conferences. 

Although  these  resolutions  were  adopted,  there  was  in 
each  instance  a  heavy  vote  against  them. 

Abel  Stevens  was  elected  editor  of  the  "  Christian  Ad- 
vocate "  instead  of  Bond.  None  among  the  younger  min- 
isters of   Methodism   had   attained   so  high  a   reputation 


M/SS/ONS   ON-   THE   PACIFIC   COAST.  48 J' 

for  versatility,  and  Bond  at  that  time  is  said  not  to  have 
desired  reelection,  but  Stevens  dedined  the  office,  and 
George  Peck  was  elected.  John  McCHntock  was  chosen 
editor  of  the  "Quarterly  Review,"  Matthew  Simpson  of 
the  Western,  William  Hosmer  of  the  "  Northern  Chris- 
tian Advocate,"  B.  F.  Tefft  of  the  "  Ladies'  Repository." 
Levi  Scott  took  the  place  of  Tippett  as  assistant  book- 
agent  in  New  York,  and  John  H.  Power  that  of  Mitchell 
in  Cincinnati.  Charles  Elliot  was  appointed  to  write  a 
history  of  the  preceding  quadrennium,  and  produced  a 
huge  volume  entitled  "The  Great  Secession."  Porter's 
description  of  it  ^  is  quaint  and  true:  "A  valuable  book 
abounding  in  documents  relative  to  slavery  and  abolition 
and  their  concomitants,  and,  singular  as  it  may  seem,  in 
unutterable  hatred  to  both." 

Soon  after  the  adjournment  the  bishops  organized  the 
ministers  and  churches  on  the  Pacific  coast  into  the  Ore- 
gon and  California  Mission  Conference.  Isaac  Owen,  of 
Indiana,  was  sent  out  in  the  spring  of  1849  ^s  the  first 
regularly  appointed  missionary.  William  Taylor,  of  the 
Baltimore  Conference,  soon  followed.  Owen  crossed  the 
plains  with  farm  wagons  drawn  by  oxen.  Taylor  bought 
a  church  and,  by  way  of  Cape  Horn,  shipped  it  to  San 
Francisco. 

Prosperity  attended  the  work,  and  able  ministers  of 
various  important  conferences  were  sent  there.  A  school 
was  opened  at  San  Jose ;  the  "  California  Christian  Advo- 
cate" was  established,  and  its  first  number,  edited  by  M.  C. 
Briggs  and  S.  D.  Simonds,  appeared  October  10,  185  i. 

Even  the  Indians  became  involved  in  controversies  con- 
cerning the  division  of  the  church,  especially  the  Wyan- 
dottes,  who  had  been  removed  from  Ohio  to  Indian  Terri- 
tory in  1843. 

1  "  History  of  Methodism,"  p.  468 


488  'J'lll-^  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xix. 

The  commissioners  of  the  church  South  gave  notice  on 
August  20,  1849,  that  they  had  entered,  in  the  United 
States  Circuit  Court  for  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and 
Ohio,  suit  for  the  division  of  the  property  of  the  Book 
Concern.  The  suit  in  Ohio  had  been  filed  on  the  12th  of 
the  preceding  month,  but  it  was  not  argued  until  June  4, 
1852.  The  decision  of  Judge  Leavitt  was  adverse  to  the 
church  South,  and  was  founded  upon  these  propositions: 
that  the  General  Conference  is  a  delegated  body  with  lim- 
ited powers,  and  has  no  authority,  directly  or  indirectly,  to 
divide  the  church ;  that  in  the  Plan  of  Separation  there 
is  no  claim  to  the  exercise  of  such  power;  that  the  con- 
ference is  prohibited  from  using  the  produce  of  the  Book 
Concern,  except  for  a  particular  purpose  and  in  a  particu- 
lar way,  and  the  Annual  Conferences  had  refused  to  re- 
move the  prohibition ;  that  it  is  a  charity  to  be  used  only 
for  the  benefit  of  those  who  remain  in  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  ;  that  any  of  its  members  may  withdraw,  but 
in  so  doing  take  with  them  no  rights  of  property  ;  that  the 
withdrawal  of  the  Southern  conferences  was  voluntary  and 
not  induced  by  positive  necessity ;  that  the  defendants 
are  required  by  law  to  comply  with  the  rules  and  regula- 
tions of  the  General  Conference,  and  therefore  had  been 
guilty  of  no  breach  of  trust ;  and  that  this  is  not  a  case  for 
a  court  of  equity  to  construct  a  new  scheme. 

Another  suit  had  been  brought  in  New  York  by  H.  B. 
Bascom  and  others.  This  was  tried,  in  May,  185  i,  in  the 
United  States  Circuit  Court  for  the  southern  district  of 
New  York.  The  counsel  for  the  church  South  were 
Daniel  Lord,  Reverdy  Johnson,  and  Reverdy  Johnson, 
Jr. ;  Rufus  Choate,  George  Wood,  and  E.  L.  Fancher 
were  counsel  for  the  book-agents,  who  were  defendants. 
Judge  Nelson  decided  against  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  declaring  that  the  General   Conference  of   1844 


THE    CHURCHES  /iV  LITIGATION.  489 

proceeded  upon  the  assumption  of  unquestioned  power  to 
erect  the  church  into  two  separate  ecclesiastical  establish- 
ments, from  which  he  deduced  the  conclusion  that,  as  the 
separation  had  taken  place  by  the  action  of  the  founders 
of  the  fund,  it  could  not  be  maintained  that  the  confer- 
ences which  fell  into  the  new  organization  had  forfeited 
the  character  which  entitled  them  to  its  enjoyment. 

The  suit  in  Ohio  having  been  decided  against  the  church 
South,  it  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.  The  case  was  heard  in  Washington  in  April, 
1854,  and  Judge  Nelson  was  chosen  to  write  the  decision, 
which  was  in  substance  the  same  as  that  which  he  deliv- 
ered in  the  New  York  case.  This  decision  ordered  z.  pro 
rata  division.  In  accordance  with  this  decree  the  agents 
at  New  York  and  Cincinnati  paid  the  representatives  of 
the  church  South  two  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  dol- 
lars in  cash,  and  transferred  the  presses  and  papers  belong- 
ing to  the  church  in  the  South,  and  all  debts  due  within 
the  bounds  of  the  Southern  conferences.  The  lawyers  on 
both  sides  were  prompted  by  distinguished  Methodists — 
Smith  of  Virginia  and  Green  of  Tennessee  on  the  South- 
ern side,  and  N.  Bangs  and  George  Peck  on  the  Northern. 
Judge  McLean,  the  only  Methodist  member  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  took  no  part  in  the  decision. 

Willamette  University  was  founded  at  Salem,  Ore., 
1844;  Baldwin  University  at  Berea,  O.,  1846;  and  Mount 
Union  College,  Mount  Union,  O.,  in  the  same  year.  The 
New  Hampshire  Conference  Seminary  and  the  Williams- 
port  Dickinson  Seminary  were  established  respectively  in 
1845  and  1848.  The  Mount  Pleasant  College  was  char- 
tered by  the  territorial  legislature  of  Iowa  in  1849;  its 
charter  was  changed  in  1854,  and  its  name  altered  to  that 
of  the  Iowa  Wesleyan  University.  The  University  of  the 
Pacific,  located    midway    between    Santa   Clara   and    San 


490 


THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xix. 


Jose,  Cal.,  was  chartered  in  1851  as  the  CaHfornia  Wes- 
leyan  College. 

At  a  "meeting  of  persons  favorable  to  the  establish- 
ment of  a  university  in  Chicago  under  the  patronage  and 
government  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  held  in 
Chicago,  May  31,  1850,"  the  Northwestern  University 
was  projected,  and  the  charter  was  approved  by  the  gov- 
ernor of  Illinois  January  28,  1851. 

Stephen  Olin,  president  of  Wesleyan  University,  died 
on  the  15th  of  August,  185 1.  To  no  minister  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  can  the  term  "  great "  be 
applied  with  more  unquestionable  propriety  than  to  him, 
and  it  was  equally  suitable  whether  applied  physically,  in- 
tellectually, or  morally.  McClintock,  the  scholar  and  critic, 
compares  him  with  Demosthenes  in  the  union  "  of  force 
and  reasoning,  fire  of  imagination  and  heat  of  declaration." 

Bishop  Hedding  died  at  his  residence  in  Poughkeepsie, 
N.  Y.,  April  9,  1852.  He  was  the  senior  bishop  from 
1844  until  his  death,  and  closed  a  laborious  and  useful 
career  in  the  enjoyment  of  universal  respect. 

With  a  very  hopeful  spirit  the  General  Conference  of 
1852  assembled  in  the  city  of  Boston.  There  were  now 
728,700  members  and  45  1 3  traveling  preachers.  The  pre- 
ceding quadrennium  had  been  an  era  of  church-building 
and  of  general  pro.sperity.  One  hundred  and  eighty-eight 
delegates  appeared,  over  whom  Waugh,  Morris,  and  Janes 
presided.  Hamline  was  unable  to  be  present  on  account 
of  illness,  and  addressed  a  letter  to  the  conference  con- 
cerning the  condition  of  his  health  when  elected,  its  sub- 
sequent improvement,  his  increasing  weakness  in  1850,  and 
reporting  the  judgment  of  physicians  that  his  heart  was  .so 
diseased  as  to  forbid  future  labor,  concluding :  "  Eight  years 
ago  I  felt  that  divine  Providence  had  strangely  called  me 
to  the  office  ;  I  now  feel  that  the  same  Providence  permits 


II AM  LINE  RESIGNS  EROM   THE   EPISCOPACY.      491 

me  to  retire.  I  therefore  tender  my  resignation  and  a 
request  to  be  released  from  my  official  responsibilities  as 
soon  as  the  way  shall  be  prepared  by  the  action  of  the 
episcopal  committee."  He  placed  his  ordination  papers 
in  the  hands  of  the  bishops. 

The  committee  reported  three  resolutions :  one  of  sym- 
pathy, another  approving  hi^  administration  and  character, 
and  the  third  accepting  his  resignation.  The  first  and 
second  were  unanimously  adopted ;  but  on  the  third  Col- 
lins offered  a  resolution  requesting  the  bishops  to  return 
to  Hamline  his  parchments  and  inform  him  that  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  declined  to  accept  his  resignation,  but 
granted  him  unrestricted  permission,  and  advised  him  to 
adopt  and  pursue  such  a  course  as  the  restoration  of  his 
health  might  dictate. 

It  was  laid  on  the  table  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty-one  to  ten.  The  discussion  upon  the  subject  was 
peculiarly  frank,  and  did  much  to  establish  the  true  doc- 
trine concerning  the  office  of  bishop  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  as  distinguished  from  the  claim,  made 
by  prelatical  churches,  that  it  is  a  third  order. 

The  conference  approved  a  proposition  to  remove  the 
remains  of  Asbury  and  Emor)^  from  the  vault  beneath  the 
pulpit  of  the  Eutaw  Street  Church  to  the  new  cemetery 
at  Mount  Olivet. 

Leroy  M.  Lee,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  appeared  and  asked  permission  to  copy  for  the  use 
of  his  church  the  records  of  the  General  Conference  from 
the  beginning  dowfi  to  the  session  of  1844.  The  final 
action  directed  the  book-agents  at  New  York  "  to  publish 
the  journals  of  the  General  Conference  from  1800  to  1836 
inclusive." 

Numerous  petitions  and  memorials  asked  for  the  intro- 
duction of  lay  representation. 


492  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xix. 

The  North  Ohio  Conference  in  1845  had  advised  its 
members  not  to  become  connected  with  secret  societies. 
A  number  disregarded  this  advice,  and  for  so  doing,  in 
1848,  were  put  upon  trial  and  found  guilty  of  imprudence. 
They  appealed.  The  conference  adopted  this  resolution : 
"That  the  action  of  the  North  Ohio  Conference  in  1848, 
in  finding  guilty  of  imprudence  several  of  its  members, 
was  unauthorized  by  the  Discipline." 

The  "  California  Christian  Advocate,"  started  as  a  pri- 
vate enterprise,  was  adopted  by  the  church,  and  another 
established  at  Chicago  to  be  known  as  the  Northwestern. 
A  curious  motion,  which  did  not  prevail,  was  made  to 
substitute  "  Prairie  "  for  "  Northwestern." 

The  committee  on  lay  delegation,  after  reciting  facts 
concerning  petitions,  memorials,  and  oral  addresses  which 
had  been  presented  to  it,  reported  that  "  it  is  inexpedient 
so  to  alter  the  economy  of  the  church  as  to  introduce  lay 
delegation  into  the  General  and  Annual  Conferences," 
This  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
one  to  three. 

The  conference  decided  to  elect  four  bishops,  who  were 
chosen  on  the  first  ballot :  Levi  Scott,  Matthew  Simpson, 
Osman  C.  Baker,  and  Edward  R.  Ames ;  Scott  having  one 
hundred  and  thirteen,  Simpson  one  hundred  and  ten, 
Baker  ninety,  and  Ames  eighty-nine  votes. 

Scott  was  a  native  of  Delaware,  and  was  fifty  years  of 
age  when  elected  ;  he  entered  the  Philadelphia  Conference 
in  1826,  and  occupied  important  positions  in  Delaware, 
Philadelphia,  and  New  Jersey.  He  was  well  educated,  ener- 
getic, sagacious,  and  full  of  unction  as  a  preacher,  and  for 
the  preceding  four  years  had  been  assistant  book-agent  in 
New  York. 

Simpson  was  born  in  Cadiz,  O.,  was  educated  at  Alle- 
gheny College,  and  after  the  usual  stages  was  ordained 


FOUR  DISTINCT   TYPES   OF  MEN.  493 

elder  by  Bishop  Roberts  at  Steubenville,  O.,  and  served 
in  the  pastorate  from  1833  to  1837.  From  the  latter  year 
to  1839  he  was  vice-president  and  professor  of  natural 
science  in  Allegheny  College  ;  and  from  1839  to  1848  presi- 
dent of  Indiana  Asbury  University.  During  the  preceding 
four  years  he  had  been  editor  of  the  "  Western  Christian 
Advocate  "  and  was  a  member  of  the  Indiana  Conference. 
He  was  forty-one  years  of  age  when  elected. 

The  birthplace  of  Baker  was  in  New  Hampshire,  and 
when  elected  he  was  forty  years  old  ;  he  studied  under  Fisk 
at  Wilbraham,  where  he  was  converted  in  1828;  entered 
Wesleyan  University,  which  he  left  on  account  of  illness 
just  before  the  course  was  finished,  but  completed  it  later, 
taking  the  second  degree  with  his  class.  For  ten  years  he 
taught  in  Newbury  Seminary,  the  last  five  as  principal. 
He  was  pastor  and  presiding  elder  from  1844;  later 
became  a  professor  in  the  Biblical  Institute  at  Concord, 
N.  H.,  and  was  a  member  of  the  New  Hampshire  Con- 
ference. 

Ames,  descended  from  the  best  New  England  stock, 
was  born  in  Ohio  in  1806,  in  a  town  that  bears  his  family 
name ;  he  was  a  student  at  the  State  College  of  Ohio,  and 
purposed  to  be  a  lawyer,  but  entered  the  ministry  and  was 
sent  by  Bishop  Roberts  into  Illinois.  After  preaching"  in 
Indiana  and  Illinois  he  was  sent  beyond  the  Mississippi 
as  a  missionary  to  the  Indians.  At  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  1840  he  was  appointed  missionary  secretary  for 
the  frontier,  and  when  elected  to  the  episcopacy  was  a  pre- 
siding elder  and  a  member  of  the  Indiana  Conference. 

The  veteran.  Bond,  was  again  elected  editor  of  the 
"  Christian  Advocate."  During  the  quadrennium  Pitman, 
missionary  secretary,  failed  in  health  and  resigned  his  posi- 
tion, and  John  P.  Durbin  was  selected  to  take  his  place, 
and  was   now  made   corresponding    secretary.      Thomas 


494  ^'^^^"  ^^tl'^TJIODISTS.  [Chap.  xix. 

Carlton  superseded  Lane  in  the  Book  Concern  at  New 
York,  and  Zebulon  Phillips,  Scott ;  Adam  Poe  succeeded 
Power  in  the  Book  Concern  at  Cincinnati ;  H.  J.  Clarke 
became  editor  of  the  Pittsburg  "  Christian  Advocate," 
J.  V.  Watson  of  the  Northwestern,  S.  D.  Simonds  of  the 
California ;  Charles  Elliot  succeeded  Simpson  in  the  West- 
ern ;  and  William  C.  Larrabee,  Tefft  in  the  "  Ladies'  Re- 
pository." The  conference  established  a  monthly  magazine 
of  current  and  religious  literatureand  appointed  Abel  Stevens 
to  edit  it  under  the  name  of  the  "  National  Magazine." 

An  interesting  episode  was  the  receipt  of  an  invitation  to 
listen  to  Daniel.  Webster  in  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  the  ad- 
dress having  been  arranged  for  with  that  view.  The  journal 
shows  that  it  was  accepted.  The  health  of  the  statesman 
was  rapidly  failing,  but  his  ambition  for  the  Presidency  was 
not  extinct,  and  his  apprehension  of  the  danger  to  the 
Union,  unless  the  compromise  measures  which  he  had  es- 
poused should  prevail,  rendered  him  willing  to  appeal  to  a 
conference  representing  so  numerous  a  constituency. 

Among  the  men  who  curiously  studied  that  body  was 
Theodore  Parker,  whose  extreme  notions  of  independence 
made  it  impossible  for  him  to  see  anything  in  the  govern- 
ment of  Methodism  but  a  stupendous  machine  to  destroy 
individuality,  in  its  creed  anything  but  superstition,  or  in 
its  services  anything  but  rampant  fanaticism. 

An  extensive  discussion  took  place  after  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  General  Conference  as  to  the  character  of 
slavery  and  the  moral  standing  of  slave-holders.  Bond, 
Elliot,  and  Clarke  in  their  respective  papers  maintained 
the  right  of  slave-holders  to  a  place  in  the  church  ;  but 
"  Zion's  Herald,"  Daniel  Wise,  editor,  the  Northern, 
Hosmer,  editor,  and  the  Northwestern,  Watson,  editor, 
condemned  all  slave-holding.  To  those  who  favored  the 
exclusion  of  slave-holders  from  the  church  the  "  Christian 
Advocate  "  applied  the  name  of  Hosmerites.      Wise  was 


BENEFACTIONS  OF  ELIZA    GARRETT.  495 

classed  with  Hosmer.  Elliot  in  substance  agreed  with 
Bond.  Professor  William  L.  Harris  replied  to  Elliot. 
Durbin  entered  the  controversy,  and  perhaps  at  no  time 
in  the  discussion  of  slavery  were  greater  zeal  and  force 
displayed  than  now. 

Garrett  Biblical  Institute  was  incorporated  by  the  legis- 
lature of  Illinois  in  1855.  It  was  founded  by  Mrs.  Eliza 
Garrett,  widow  of  Augustus  Garrett,  who  was  formerly 
mayor  of  Chicago.  It  is  supposed  that  the  first  suggestion 
of  such  an  institution  was  made  to  Mrs.  Garrett  by  P.  M. 
Borein,  under  whose  ministry  she  was  converted.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1853,  she  consulted  Judge  Grant  Goodrich,  who 
approved.  She  wished,  however,  the  judgment  of  others, 
"  especially  of  her  pastor,  the  Rev.  John  Clark."  He  con- 
curred ;  the  institution  was  established,  her  gifts  and  be- 
quests to  it  amounting  to  more  than  $300,000. 

The  twelfth  delegated  General  Conference  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  assembled  in  Indianapolis  in  1856. 
The  number  of  members  and  probationers  in  the  church 
was  799,431,  an  increase  of  but  16,073,  and  the  number 
of  traveling  preachers  was  6610. 

The  constitution  was  altered  so  as  to  grant  to  the  Li- 
beria Conference  the  privilege  of  electing  to  the  office 
of  missionary  bishop,  "an  elder  in  good  standing,"  his 
jurisdiction  to  be  limited  to  Africa.  Provision  was  made 
for  the  organization  of  the  missionaries  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  Germany  into  a  mission  conference. 
The  settlement  between  the  Western  Book  Concern  and 
the  commissioners  of  the  church-  South  was  legally  con- 
summated. The  conference  adopted  the  "  Pacific  Chris- 
tian Advocate  "  at  Portland,  Ore.,  and  the  Central  at  St. 
Louis,  which,  like  the  "  Northwestern  Christian  Advocate," 
had  been  started  as  private  enterprises.  The  number  of 
conferences  was  increased  to  forty-seven.      James  Portei' 

1  "  History  of  Methodism  in  Texas,"  p.  80. 


496  THE  METHODISTS.  [CiiAi-.  xix. 

was  elected  assistant  book-agent  at  New  York.  Bond, 
editor  of  the  "  Christian  Advocate,"  had  died  in  the  pre- 
ceding March,  leaving  a  reputation  for  ability  as  an  editor 
unequaled  before  and  unsurpassed  since  in  Methodist 
journalism.  Abel  Stevens  was  elected  his  successor. 
D.  D.  Whedon  became  editor  of  the  "  Quarterly  Review," 
Daniel  Wise  of  the  "  Sunday-school  Advocate,"  James 
Floy  of  the  "  National  Magazine,"  D.  W.  Clark  of  the 
"  Ladies'  Repository,"  Calvin  Kingsley  of  the  Western, 
F.  G.  Hibbard  of  the  Northern,  I.  N.  Baird  of  the  Pitts- 
burg, Thomas  H.  Pearne  of  the  Pacific,  Eleazar  Thomas 
of  the  California,  and  Joseph  Brooks  of  the  "  Central 
Christian  Advocate." 

This  conference  changed  the  provision  for  calling  an 
extra  session  of  the  General  Conference  so  as  to  make  the 
consent  of  two  thirds  of  the  Annual  Conferences  sufficient 
to  authorize  the  bishops  to  call  an  extra  session.  Before 
this  the  concurrent  advice  of  all  was  necessary  for  such 
authorization.  "  This  appears  to  have  been  done  solely  by 
the  General  Conference,  and  if  so  was  unconstitutional."  ^ 

It  recommended  to  the  several  Annual  Conferences  to 
alter  the  Discipline  by  adding,  "  and  may  appoint  a  mis- 
sionary bishop  or  superintendent  for  any  of  our  foreign 
missions,  limiting  his  episcopal  jurisdiction  to  the  same 
respectively." 

Watson,  editor  of  the  "  Northwestern  Christian  Advo- 
cate," died  a  few  months  after  the  adjournment  of  this 
conference,  and  Dr.  Thomas  M.  Eddy  was  selected  to  fill 
the  vacancy. 

The  Liberia  Conference,  pursuant  to  the  authority  given 

to  it  by  the  change  in  the  constitution  recommended  by 

the  General   Conference  of    1856,  which  was   completed 

by  the  approval  of  the  constitutional  number  of  members 

^  Neely's  "  Governing  Conference  in  Methodisni,"  p.  416. 


ORDINATION  OF  A    BISHOP  FOR  AFRICA.  497 

of  the  Annual  Conferences,  selected  in  January,  1858, 
Francis  Burns,  a  native  of  Albany,  N.  Y.,  and  com- 
mended him  for  missionary  bishop.  His  ordination  took 
place  at  the  session  of  the  Genesee  Conference  of  that 
year.  Burns  was  self-educated,  with  more  or  less  aid 
from  religious  friends,  and  particularly  benefited  by  the 
counsels  of  the  Rev.  David  Terry,  who  advised  him  to 
devote  himself  to  ministerial  work  among  his  own  people 
and  presented  him  with  a  copy  of  Clarke's  Commentary. 
With  the  Rev.  John  Seys,  in  1834  he  sailed  to  Liberia, 
where  he  became  a  teacher  in  Monrovia  Seminary.  After 
pursuing  that  work  and  preaching  for  ten  years  he  re- 
turned to  this  country  and  was  by  Bishop  Janes  or- 
dained deacon  and  elder.  At  the  time  of  his  selection 
for  the  episcopacy  he  was  principal  of  Monrovia  Seminary, 
editor  of  "  Africa's  Luminary,"  presiding  elder  of  Cape 
Palmas  district,  and  preacher  in  charge  of  Cape  Palmas 
station.  For  six  years  he  had  been  president  of  the  Li- 
beria Conference.  On  the  occasion  of  his  ordination  he 
preached  a  sermon  which,  in  the  opinion  of  Janes,  "  would 
have  been  creditable  to  any  of  the  bishops."  He  re- 
turned to  Liberia,  but  his  health  failed  and  he  died  in 
1863. 

Waugh,  the  senior  bishop,  after  an  episcopal  service  of 
twenty-two  years,  died  February  9,  1858.  Porter,  allud- 
ing to  the  glowing  portraiture  of  his  character  by  his  col- 
leagues, declares  that  it  falls  short  of  the  truth,  and  that 
they  might  have  added  that  he  shone  brighter  in  social 
life  than  in  any  other  position,  and  there  presented  one  of 
the  most  perfect  models  of  a  Christian  gentleman.  He 
was  "  one  of  the  few  Southern  men  who  could  oppose 
New  England  abolitionists  and  still  command  their  love, 
though  he  could  not  control  their  sentiments  or  action."  1 

1   Porter's  "  History  of  Methodism." 


4g8  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai-.  xix. 

The  most  distinguished  men  participated  in  the  discus- 
sions of  slavery  during  the  Conference  of  1856;  among 
them  Miner  Raymond,  of  the  New  England  Conference, 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Slavery ;  Collins,  chairman 
of  the  minority  which  presented  a  report;  Hiram  Matti- 
son,  George  R.  Crooks,  Edward  Thomson,  Abel  Stevens, 
Samuel  Y.  Monroe,  and  Drs.  George  Peck,  John  Dempster, 
Israel  Chamberlayne,  and  John  McClintock. 

"The  indirect  refusal  to  take  up  the  report  of  slavery 
by  laying  on  the  table  the  preliminary  motion  to  suspend 
the  order  of  the  day  indicated  that  any  further  action  on 
that  subject  was  not  practicable  during  that  session  of  the 
General  Conference.  A  large  majority,  one  hundred  and 
twenty-two,  had  recorded  their  names  in  favor  of  prohib- 
iting all  slave-holding  by  a  change  in  the  general  rule 
with  the  concurring  vote  of  the  Annual  Conferences.  Of 
this  number  ninety-one  were  radical  abolitionists  and  in 
favor  of  partial  prohibition  by  direct  and  immediate  legis- 
lation. Comparing  the  different  votes  taken  by  yeas  and 
nays,  three  classes  of  voters  are  recorded — the  conserva- 
tives, the  constitutional  abolitionists,  and  the  radical  abo- 
litionists. The  first  class,  numbering  ninety-six,  voted 
against  all  changes;  the  second,  numbering  in  all  thirty- 
one,  to  prevent  prohibition  of  slave-holding  by  direct  legis- 
lation united  with  the  conservatives  and  threw  the  bal- 
ance of  power  in  favor  of  postponing  further  action,  as 
before  noted.  Final  antislavery  action  was  thus  deferred 
rather  than  defeated."^ 

The  controversy  continued  after  the  adjournment  and 
occupied  much  space  in  church  papers.  The  position 
strenuously  maintained  by  Stevens,  that  slave-holders  had 
a  constitutional  right  to  membership  in  the  church,  was 

1  Matlack's  "  Antislavery  Struggle  and  Triumi)li  in  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,"  pp.  293,  294. 


POWERS  OF  THE  GENERAL    CONFERENCE.         499 

attacked  by  Professor  W.  L.  Harris  in  a  series  of  arti- 
cles, afterward  comprehended  in  a  small  work  entitled 
"Powers  of  the  General  Conference."  The  substance  of 
the  argurfient  was  that  the  conference  has  full  powers  to 
make  rules  which  do  not  revoke  or  change  a  general  rule ; 
that  a  statutory  rule  excluding  slave-holders  would  not 
revoke  or  change  any  general  rule ;  that  if  it  had  been 
the  intention  to  guard  by  constitutional  provision  the  ques- 
tion of  slavery,  it  would  have  been  done  when,  in  1808, 
the  church  met  to  frame  the  constitution ;  it  was  not 
done ;  hence  he  concluded  that  the  General  Conference 
had  power  to  refuse  to  tolerate  slavery  any  longer.  Others 
argued  that  no  change  was  necessary  to  give  authority  to 
exclude  slave-holders.  Daniel  Wise,  the  new  editor  of  the 
"  Sunday-school  Advocate,"  introduced  short  paragraphs 
against  slavery  and  in  favor  of  freedom.  On  this  account 
he  was  assailed  before  Annual  Conferences  and  threats 
were  made  that  his  paper  would  be  ostracized.  He  re- 
plied :  "  The  '  Advocate  '  is  expected  to  teach  our  children 
the  doctrines  and  ethics  of  our  church;  that  slave-holding 
is  a  violation  of  Christian  and  Methodist  ethics  ;  and  conse- 
quently it  is  my  duty  to  teach  the  children  to  think  of  it 
as  a  sin ;  so  long  as  I  am  editor  of  the  paper  I  shall  firmly 
but  judiciously  so  instruct  them.  If  the  General  Confer- 
ence shall  condemn  my  course  it  can,  of  course,  replace 
me  with  another  editor." 

Hosmer,  having  been  displaced  by  Hibbard,  established 
the  "Northern  Independent,"  located  at  Auburn,  N.  Y. 
Hibbard  took  in  substance  the  same  position  that  Hosmer 
had  taken,  but  in  a  more  judicious  tone. 

During  this  period  the  number  of  those  who  held  that 
it  would  be  within  the  prerogative  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence to  pass  a  simple  rule  of  discipline  by  which  all  slave- 
holders would  be  liable  to  expulsion  increased  rapidly ; 


500  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xix. 

but  this  view  was  powerfully  antagonized  by  distinguished 
writers,  Stevens  compiled  a  pamphlet  of  fifty-eight  pages 
of  his  editorials  in  the  "Advocate"  on  "  What  .the  Next 
General  Conference  Should  Do  on  the  Question  of  Slav- 
ery." To  this  a  reply  was  made  by  Dr.  D.  D.  Whedon, 
appearing  first  in  the  New  York  "  Tribune  "  and  afterward 
in  a  pamphlet.  But,  though  he  held  that  an  argument 
could  be  made  showing  the  constitutionality  of  such  a 
statute  as  many  favored,  he  preferred  the  slow  but  sure 
constitutional  process. 

A  Ministers'  and  Laymen's  Union,  of  which  Nathan 
Bangs  was  elected  president,  was  established  in  1859  at 
the  session  of  the  New  York  Conference,  for  the  purpose 
of  a  canvass  to  protest  against  the  proposed  change  in  re- 
lation to  slavery.  Its  statement  of  views  and  intent  was 
answered  by  the  Antislavery  Society  of  the  New  York 
East  Conference  through  an  article  written  by  Daniel 
Curry.  Various  forms  for  changing  the  general  rule  on 
slavery  were  submitted  to  the  Annual  Conferences,  and 
before  the  Conference  of  i860  they  were  designated  by 
the  names  of  the  conferences  which  originated  them :  the 
Cincinnati  rule  forbade  "  the  buying  or  selling  of  men, 
women,  or  children,  or  holding  them  with  the  intention  of 
using  them  as  slaves,"  the  Providence  would  have  pro- 
hibited "  slave-holding,  or  buying  or  selling  men,  women, 
or  children  with  the  intention  to  enslave  them,"  and  the 
Erie  would  make  the  law  read,  "  the  buying,  selling,  hold- 
ing, or  transferring  of  any  human  being  to  be  used  in 
slavery."     These  were  all  defeated. 

At  the  General  Conference  of  i860,  which  met  in  Buf- 
falo, 139  memorials,  signed  by  3999  persons  and  47 
Quarterly  Conferences,  were  presented,  asking  that  no 
change  be  made  in  the  Discipline  on  the  subject  of  slav- 
ery.    But   811   memorials,  signed  by  45,857  individuals 


SLAVERY  AND    THE  LIQUOR    TRAFFIC.  50 1 

and  from  49  Quarterly  Meeting  Conferences,  asked  that 
slavery  might  be  extirpated  from  the  church.  After  a 
long  discussion  the  General  Conference  substituted  in  place 
of  the  chapter  on  slavery,  which  had  come  down  from  1 780, 
the  following: 

"  Question.  What  shall  be  done  for  the  extirpation  of 
the  evil  of  slavery  ? 

"  Ansivcr.  We  declare  that  we  are  as  much  as  ever 
convinced  of  the  great  evil  of  slavery.  We  believe  that 
the  buying,  selling,  or  holding  of  human  beings,  to  be 
used  as  chattels,  is  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God  and  na- 
ture, inconsistent  with  the  golden  rule  and  with  that  rule 
in  our  Discipline  which  requires  all  who  continue  among 
us  to  '  do  no  harm  and  to  avoid  evil  of  every  kind.'  We, 
therefore,  affectionately  admonish  all  our  preachers  and 
people  to  keep  themselves  pure  from  this  great  evil, 
and  to  seek  its  extirpation  by  all  lawful  and  Christian 
means." 

The  paragraph  refusing  orders  to  local  preachers  who 
were  slave-holders  was  expunged. 

This  conference  urged  the  ministers  and  members  of 
the  church  to  cooperate  in  all  proper  efforts  for  securing 
in  the  several  States  laws  that  would  effectually  prohibit 
the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks ;  and,  because  of  the  adul- 
teration of  liquors,  recommended  the  use  of  domestic 
wines  for  the  sacrament ;  it  denounced  the  practice  which 
prevailed  in  some  localities  of  keeping  wine  and  ale  for 
common  family  use,  as  well  as  the  renting  of  places  for 
the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks,  and  the  practice  of  selling 
grain  where  it  was  known  that  it  would  be  used  for  the  manu- 
facture of  such  liquors ;  and  instructed  the  ministers  to 
enforce  the  provisions  of  the  Discipline  upon  this  subject, 
making  it  the  duty  of  every  presiding  elder  to  inquire  con- 
cerning it  at  every  Quarterly  Conference. 


502  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xix. 

Lay  delegation  was  extensively  and  earnestly  debated, 
and  the  conference  resolved:  "We,  the  delegates  of  the 
Annual  Conferences  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
in  General  Conference  assembled,  hereby  approve  of  the 
introduction  of  lay  representation  into  this  body  when 
it  shall  be  ascertained  that  the  church  desires  it."  It 
provided  that  all  preachers  in  charge  stationed  within 
the  United  States  and  Territories  be  required  to  lay  the 
subject  of  lay  representation  in  the  General  Conference 
before  the  male  members  over  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
after  notice  in  harmony  with  specified  conditions,  that 
they  might  express  their  wishes  by  casting  ballots  "  for 
lay  representation  "  or"  against  lay  representation."  This 
vote  was  to  be  taken  in  the  interval  between  the  Annual 
Conferences  of  i86i  and  1862.  After  this  lay  expression 
the  same  question  was  to  be  submitted  to  the  Annual 
Conferences,  and  the  bishops  were  instructed  to  report  to 
the  ensuing  General  Conference  the  result. 

This  conference  had  to  consider  the  appeals  of  the  Rev. 
Benjamin  T.  Roberts  and  others,  growing  out  of  an  agita- 
tion in  western  New  York,  the  germs  of  which  appeared 
as  early  as  1850,  but  did  not  attract  general  attention  till 
some  years  later,  when  an  association  of  ministers  was 
formed  within  the  bounds  of  the  Genesee  Conference. 
They  claimed  that  they  had  not  been  properly  treated  by 
the  leading  members  of  that  body  ;  that  on  account  of  their 
principles  on  certain  subjects  they  were  ostracized,  and 
did  not  receive  the  personal  or  official  consideration  to 
which  their  characters  and  abilities  entitled  them.  They 
were  known  as  "  Nazarites  "  and  their  association  at  first 
was  secret. 

So  long  as  they  confined  themselves  in  their  publications 
and  addresses  to  complaining  of  the  decline  of  spirituality 
in  the  church,  of  neglect  of  the  Discipline,  and  of  the  ignor- 


ORIGIN  OF   THE  FREE  METHODIST  CHURCH.      503 

ing  of  some  of  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  Methodism,  and 
to  bearing  testimony  against  the  sins  of  the  church,  they 
were  not  amenable  to  discipline.  But  when  they  made 
specific  charges  against  prominent  members  of  the  confer- 
ence they  became  subjects  of  investigation.  The  Rev.  Ben- 
jamin T.  Roberts  was  adjudged  guilty,  in  1857,  of  immoral 
and  unchristian  conduct  growing  out  of  these  charges,  and 
sentenced  to  be  reprimanded  by  the  bishop  presiding.  As 
he  made  no  change  in  his  course  during  the  intervening 
year,  at  the  next  conference  he  was  charged  with  contumacy 
and  expelled  from  the  church.  Similar  proceedings  were 
taken  against  others. 

Against  both  these  decisions  Roberts  appealed  to  the 
General  Conference.     This  action  was  taken : 

"  The  committee  having  heard  and  considered  the  min- 
utes, documents,  and  pleadings  in  the  first  appeal  case  of 
Benjamin  T.  Roberts,  who  appeals  from  the  decision  of  the 
Genesee  Conference  whereby  he  was  adjudged  to  be  rep- 
rimanded before  the  conference,  proceeded  to  vote  in  the 
case  with  the  following  result :  On  the  question  of  affirm- 
ing, nineteen  voted  in  favor  and  nineteen  against  it.  On 
the  question  of  remanding  the  case  for  a  new  trial,  the 
committee  voted  almost  unanimously  in  the  negative.  On 
the  question  of  reversing  the  action  of  the  conference, 
eighteen  voted  in  favor  and  twenty  against,  a  result  which, 
as  the  General  Conference  has  decided,  leaves  the  decision 
of  the  Genesee  Conference  as  the  final  adjudication  of  the 
case. 

"  J.  T.  Crane,  Secretary. 

"  The  committee  have  considered  the  second  appeal  of 
B.  T.  Roberts,  who  appeals  from  the  action  of  the  Genesee 
Conference  whereby  he  was  expelled  from  the  ministry  and 
the  church. 


504  ^'^>'^"  METHODISTS.  [Ciiai>.  xix. 

"The  representatives  of  the  Genesee  Conference  objected 
to  the  admission  of  the  appeal  on  the  ground : 

"  I.  That  B.  T.  Roberts  subsequently  to  his  trial  and 
condemnation  joined  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  as 
a  probationer,  and  thus,  at  least  tacitly,  confessed  the  jus- 
tice of  the  action  of  the  conference  on  his  case. 

"  2.  That  B.  T.  Roberts  since  he  was  deprived  by  his 
expulsion  of  his  ministerial  authority  and  standing  has  con- 
tinued to  preach  and  has  thus  rebelled  against  the  author- 
ity of  the  conference  and  the  church. 

"  3.  That  B.  T.  Roberts  since  he  declared  his  intention 
of  appealing  to  the  General  Conference  has  connected  him- 
self with  another  organization,  contemplating  church  ends 
independent  of  and  hostile  to  the  church  to  whose  General 
Conference  he  now  appeals. 

"  The  committee,  after  hearing  the  statements  and  plead- 
mgs  of  the  representatives  of  the  parties, 

"  Resolved,  That  the  appeal  of  B.  T.  Roberts  be  not 
admitted." 

Similar  action  was  taken  in  the  case  of  William  Cooley.i 

The  ministers  and  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  who  sympathized  with  them  met  in  convention  in 
Pekin,  Niagara  County,  N.  Y.,  on  the  23d  of  August,  i860, 
and  organized  the  Free  Methodist  Church,  adopting,  with 
slight  modifications,  the  Articles  of  Religion  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  but  in  government  provided  that 
the  members  should  have  an  equal  voice  with  the  ministers 
in  the  councils  of  the  church. 

The  publishing  agents  at  New  York  remained  the  same, 
but  in  Cincinnati  Luke  Hitchcock  took  the  place  of  Sworm- 
stedt ;  Edward  Tliomson  that  of  Stevens  as  editor  of  tiie 
"  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal  "  ;  the  "  National  Maga- 
zine "  had  ceased  to  exist;  Isaac  S.  Bingham  took  the 
1  "  Journal  of  the  General  Conference  fur  iSbo, "  p.  253. 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF   THE   "METHODIST:'  505 

place  of  Hibbard  as  editor  of  the  "  Northern  Christian 
Advocate";  Samuel  H.  Nesbit,  of  Baird,  editor  of  the 
Pittsburg ;  Charles  ElHott,  of  Brooks,  editor  of  the  Central. 
William  L.  Harris  was  elected  assistant  corresponding  sec- 
retary of  the  Missionary  Society. 

Soon  after  the  adjournment  of  the  conference,  the 
"  Methodist,"  a  weekly  paper,  was  established  in  the  city 
of  New  York  by  an  association  of  ministers  and  laymen. 
George  R.  Crooks,  with  whom  Abel  Stevens  was  afterward 
associated,  was  editor,  assisted  by  an  able  staff  of  contrib- 
uting editors.  It  took  a  conservative  position  upon  the 
slavery  question,  was  devoted  chiefly  to  the  advocacy  of 
lay  representation,  and  speedily  obtained  a  very  large  cir- 
culation, which  materially  diminished  the  patronage  of  the 
"  Christian  Advocate." 

Two  of  the  border  conferences  repudiated  the  new 
statute  adopted  by  the  Conference  of  i860.  The  Balti- 
more by  a  unanimous  vote  determined  "  not  to  hold  con- 
nection with  any  ecclesiastical  body  that  makes  non-slave- 
holding  a  condition  of  membership  in  the  church."  At  a 
preachers'  meeting  held  September  14,  i860,  in  Wesley 
Chapel,  after  a  formal  complaint  against  the  action  of  the 
General  Conference  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  a  plan  was 
proposed  for  concentrating  at  the  following  General  Con- 
ference the  conservative  element  of  the  church,  and  among 
the  demands  to  be  made  were  a  repudiation  of  the  new 
chapter  and  the  placing  of  the  control  of  the  question 
with  the  Annual  Conferences.  A  convention  of  laymen 
from  within  the  bounds  of  the  Baltimore,  East  Baltimore, 
Philadelphia,  and  West  Virginia  conferences  was  held  on 
the  5th  of  December  at  the  Eutaw  Street  Church  in  Balti- 
more. A  delegation  was  present  from  New  York  on  the 
6th.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  sixteen  churches  in  the  Balti- 
more Conference,  sixty-three  were  represented.     An  ad- 


5o6  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xix. 

dress  to  the  conference  named  was  adopted,  urging  it  to 
sever  its  connection  with  the  General  Conference. 

Agitation  arose  in  that  part  of  the  Philadelphia  Confer- 
ence known  as  the  Peninsula,  suggesting  negotiations  with 
the  Baltimore  and  other  border  conferences.  The  subject 
was  discussed  at  the  Baltimore  Conference  without  bring- 
ing matters  to  an  issue ;  but  Bishop  Scott  declined  to  or- 
dain a  candidate  for  elder's  orders  because  he  publicly 
excepted  to  the  new  chapter,  stating  the  ground  of  his 
action  in  these  words :  "  I  regard  myself  restrained  from 
ordaining  any  one  who  declines  to  take  upon  him  the  or- 
dination vows  without  qualification  or  exception." 

At  the  same  time  a  convention  of  laymen,  by  a  vote  of 
ninety-one  to  thirty-two,  passed  resolutions  recommending 
the  adoption  of  resolutions  to  the  effect  that  the  unconsti- 
tutional action  of  the  General  Conference  had  destroyed 
the  unity  of  the  church,  and  that  the  Baltimore  Conference 
does  not  recognize  its  jurisdiction.  Should  three  quarters 
of  the  Annual  Conferences  within  a  year  agree  with  it  in 
abrogating  the  new  chapter  and  in  ignoring  the  whole  sub- 
ject of  slavery  in  the  Discipline,  the  Baltimore  Conference 
would  reunite  with  them  in  church-fellowship. 

Scott  refused  to  entertain  motions  relating  to  a  division 
of  the  church,  but  subsequently  allowed  the  secretary  to 
put  the  question  on  the  adoption  of  a  similar  series  of  prop- 
ositions. On  resuming  the  chair  he  ordered  a  paper  to  be 
spread  on  the  "  Journal  "  declaring  the  action  null  and  void 
regarded  as  conference  action,  and  proceed  to  finish  the 
business  of  the  session.  One  hundred  and  thirty-two  of  the 
one  hundred  and  seventy-one  members  of  the  conference 
were  present ;  eighty-three  voted  forimmediateseparation.i 

Throughout  the  border  excitement  prevailed,  and  it 
spread  to  all  parts  of  the  church. 

1  Matlack. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

THE    FRATRICIDAL    WAR    AND    ITS    SEQUELS. 

The  state  of  the  country  became  alarming.  Discus- 
sions, of  which  the  institution  of  slavery  was  the  center,  had 
necessitated  its  introduction  into  national  politics,  where 
it  was  complicated  with  the  controversy  upon  the  funda- 
mental question  as  to  whether  the  national  government  is 
a  federal  union  of  States  or  a  federal  union  of  the  people. 
The  relation  of  slavery  to  the  Territories  became  a  burning 
issue,  upon  which  the  newly  formed  Republican  party  took 
the  ground  that  slavery  had  no  constitutional  standing  in 
the  Territories.  The  Democratic  party  divided  between 
the  followers  of  Douglas,  who  held  that  the  people  of  the 
Territories  should  have  the  right  to  decide  for  themselves, 
and  the  main  body,  which  declared  that  slave-holders 
settling  in  the  Territories  had  a  constitutional  right  to  take 
with  them  their  property  in  slaves. 

The  failure  of  the  Republican  party  to  elect  John  C. 
Fremont  President  did  not  give  rest  to  the  country,  and 
a  bitterness  was  engendered  which  could  have  but  one  re- 
sult. The  effort  of  the  Union  party,  which  nominated  John 
Bell,  of  Tennessee,  and  Edward  Everett,  of  Massachusetts, 
respectively  for  President  and  Vice-President,  as  an  attempt 
to  cast  oil  upon  the  troubled  waters,  though  patriotic  in 
purpose,  was  a  failure. 

507 


5o8  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xx. 

Tlie  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  in  November,  i860, 
brought  to  a  crisis  the  explosive  elements  which  had  been 
gathering  beneath  the  surface  of  a  wonderful  national  pros- 
perity. When  Fort  Sumter  was  fired  upon  the  distinc- 
tion between  conservatives  and  radicals  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  relatively  to  slavery  disappeared. 

The  records  of  the  Baltimore  Conference  show  that 
sixty-six  m.inisters  of  that  body  had  withdrawn,  headed 
by  John  S.  Martin,  the  secretary,  who  carried  the  archives 
with  him.  The  minutes  contain  the  declaration  made  by 
them  on  the  twenty-third  day  of  March,  1861,  and  state 
that  "  if  any  of  the  above-named  brethren  be  present  and 
cooperate  in  the  business  of  the  conference  at  its  next  ses- 
sion, or  shall  sooner  signify  to  the  bishops  their  acknowl- 
edgments of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  church,  this  conference 
will  consider  their  act  of  withdrawal  as  null  and  void." 

No  returns  were  received  at  that  conference  from  the 
Winchester,  Lewisburg,  Roanoke,  Rockingham,  and  Po- 
tomac districts,  which,  the  preceding  year,  had  reported 
16,756  members  and  2193  probationers.  These  districts 
were  afterward  formed  into  a  district  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South.  The  next  year  a  new  district, 
entitled  the  Virginia,  was  formed,  with  John  Lanahan  as 
presiding  elder.  It  consisted  of  only  seven  appointments, 
but  the  minutes  contain  a  significant  addendum  :  "  Other 
appointments  in  the  Virginia  work  will  be  announced  as 
circumstances  may  require."  The  record  of  the  Baltimore 
Conference  for  1863  shows  a  decrease  of  21,065  members. 

The  Rev.  Anthony  Bewley,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
General  Conference  of  that  year  from  Arkansas,  and  who 
joined  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  1848,  was  hung 
by  a  mob  on  the  13th  of  September,  1866,  at  Fort  Worth, 
Tex.  He  had  been  falsely  charged  with  promoting  an 
insurrection  in  Texas,  and,  not  desiring  trouble,  had  de- 


THE  EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION.  509 

parted  from  the  State,  but  was  pursued  by  his  antago- 
nists and  brought  back.  So  great  was  the  prejudice 
against  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  as  an  aboHtion 
body  that  on  Sunday,  the  13th  of  the  preceding  March, 
while  Bishop  Janes  was  conducting  the  Arkansas  Con- 
ference and  was  about  to  preach,  Judge  Roberts,  accom- 
panied by  a  mob,  entered  the  church  and  notified  the 
bishop  to  leave  within  two  hours,  declaring  that  if  that 
church  did  not  cease  its  work  in  Texas  "  blood  would  be 
shed,  and  the  responsibility  would  be  on  the  bishop  and 
conference." 

The  conferences,  in  most  instances  without  a  dissenting 
voice,  passed  resolutions  pledging  their  influence  to  encour- 
age and  assist  the  army  and  navy  to  maintain  the  Union. 

The  Central  Ohio  Conference  in  1861  passed  resolutions 
contemplating  the  proclamation  of  universal  freedom  as 
the  only  solution  of  the  existing  difficulties.  The  same 
body  forwarded  a  resolution,  passed  at  Greenville,  Sep- 
tember 22,  1862,  declaring:  "  We  beheve  the  time  is  fully 
come  when,  from  a  material  necessity  for  the  safety  of 
the  country,  such  a  proclamation  should  be  made ;  and  we 
earnestly  beseech  the  President  of  the  United  States  to 
proclaim  the  emancipation  of  all  slaves  held  in  the  United 
States,  paying  loyal  men  a  reasonable  compensation  for 
their  slaves."  Before  the  communication  reached  Wash- 
ington the  President  had  issued  a  proclamation,  to  go  into 
eff"ect  the  first  day  of  the  new  year. 

A  circumstance  which  Bishop  McTyeire  ^  declares  made 
a  deep  wound  is  thus  described  by  him :  "  After  the 
federal  forces  had  occupied  large  sections  of  Southern 
territory.  Bishop  Ames,  with  preachers  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  followed  the  victorious  army  with 
an  order  procured  from  Secretary  of  War  Stanton,  and 
1  In  his  history. 


5IO  rilE   METHODISTS.  [Ciiai'.  xx. 

took  forcible  possession  of  Southern  Methodist  pulpits, 
even  to  the  exclusion  of  ministers  appointed  by  the  church 
authorities  and  desired  by  the  congregation."  The  lan- 
guage of  the  order  referred  to  by  Bishop  McTyeire,  so 
far  as  it  related  to  the  headquarters  of  the  Department  of 
the  Gulf,  required  that  all  houses  of  worship  within  that 
department  belonging  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  "  in  which  a  loyal  minister  who  has  been  appointed 
by  a  loyal  bishop  of  the  said  church  does  not  now  officiate, 
are  hereby  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Rev.  Bishop 
Ames."  It  further  ordered  the  "commanding  officers  at 
the  various  points  where  such  houses  of  worship  may  be 
located  "  to  extend  to  the  ministers  appointed  by  Bishop 
Ames  all  the  aid,  countenance,  and  support  practicable,  and 
the  officers  of  the  quartermaster's  department  were  au- 
thorized and  directed  to  furnish  Bishop  Ames  and  his  clerk 
with  transportation  and  subsistence,  "  when  it  can  be  done 
without  prejudice  to  the  service."  The  date  of  this  order 
was  January  i8,  1864. 

This  simply  made  loyalty  to  the  Union  in  the  conquered 
portions  of  the  South  a  test  of  the  right  to  hold  public 
services,  and  under  the  circumstances  practically  put  all 
churches  under  the  control  of  Bishop  Ames.  On  the 
resumption  of  civil  authority  and  the  beginning  of  recon- 
struction throughout  the  land,  it  gave  way.  The  first 
church  established  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
New  Orleans  for  Anglo-Saxon  members  after  the  war  was 
named  Ames  Church. 

The  General  Conference  of  1864  assembled  in  Phila- 
delphia. 

The  Baltimore  Conference,  shorn  of  its  strength  by  so 
large  a  secession,  had  but  three  representatives,  at  the 
head  of  whom  was  John  Lanahan,  the  intrepid  presiding 
elder  of  the  district  of  Virginia.     The  atmosphere  of  the 


IMPORTANT  LEG  I  SLA  TION.  5  I  I 

national  conflict  pervaded  the  assembly,  and  by  unanimous 
vote  the  trustees  of  the  church  were  requested  to  display 
above  the  building  the  flag  of  the  United  States.  Elliott, 
of  the  "Central  Christian  Advocate"  at  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
had  received  from  the  loyal  women  of  St.  Louis  the  gift 
of  a  flag,  and  the  conference  voted  that  it  be  suspended 
in  the  church  during  the  deliberations  of  the  body. 

The  following  resolutions  were  adopted  by  a  vote  of 
two  hundred  and  seven  to  nine : 

"  That  we  recommend  the  amendment  of  the  general 
rule  on  slavery  so  that  it  shall  read,  '  Slave-holding,  buy- 
ing or  selling  slaves.' 

"  That  we  recommend  the  suspension  of  the  Fourth 
Restrictive  Rule  for  the  purpose  set  forth  in  the  foregoing 
resolution." 

The  bishops  were  instructed  to  submit  these  resolutions 
to  the  Annual  Conferences,  and  if  the  requisite  number  of 
votes  were  obtained,  to  insert  the  new  rule  in  subsequent 
editions  of  the  Discipline. 

The  minority  desired  to  amend  the  rule  so  as  to  make 
it  read,  "  The  selling  of  human  beings,  or  the  buying  or 
holding  of  them,  except  for  reasons  purely  humane." 

By  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  to  forty-eight, 
the  word  "  two,"  in  the  limitations  of  the  bishops  in  the 
power  to  appoint  ministers,  was  changed  to  "  three."  The 
minority  consisted  of  those  who  were  opposed  to  any  in- 
crease, together  with  a  few  who  desired  all  limitation  re- 
moved. The  conference  also  empowered  the  bishops  to 
appoint  ministers  to  certain  specialties  for  a  longer  time 
than  three  years. 

Joseph  A.  Wright,  ex-governor  of  Indiana,  Governor 
Cannon  of  Delaware,  Dr.  James  Strong,  C.  C.  North,  and 
John  Elliott,  of  New  York,  Cornelius  Walsh  of  New  Jersey, 
Thomas  Kneil  of  Massachusetts,  G.  C.  Cooke  of  Illinois, 


5 12  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai.  xx. 

and  Oliver  Hoyt  of  Connecticut,  deputed  by  a  conven- 
tion just  held  in  Philadelphia,  appeared  before  the  con- 
ference, and  Strong,  the  secretary,  read  an  address  upon 
lay  delegation,  in  which  the  method  of  taking  the  vote 
upon  the  subject  was  criticised  as  inadequate  to  ascertain 
the  true  sense  of  the  laity,  and  asking  special  attention  to  the 
subject  of  introducing  lay  representation,  which,  the  con- 
vention affirmed,  stood  firmly  on  Methodist,  Protestant, 
and  Scriptural  ground,  and  would  give  to  the  Christian 
world  a  new  guaranty  of  the  perpetuity  of  Methodism, 
since  it  agreed  with  primitive  usage  and  is  the  distinctive 
mark  of  Protestant  Christianity. 

The  committee  which  was  appointed  to  convey  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States  its  sympathies  and  appro- 
bation made  a  verbal  report  through  Bishop  Ames,  who 
presented  the  following  autograph  letter  from  Abraham 
Lincoln : 

"  Gentlemen  :  In  response  to  your  address,  allow  me 
to  attest  the  accuracy  of  its  historical  statements,  indorse 
the  sentiments  it  expresses,  and  thank  you  in  the  nation's 
name  for  the  sure  promise  it  gives. 

"  Nobly  sustained  as  the  government  has  been  by  all 
the  churches,  I  would  utter  nothing  which  might  in  the 
least  appear  invidious  against  any.  Yet  without  this  it 
may  fairly  be  said  that  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
not  less  devoted  than  the  best,  is  by  its  greater  numbers 
the  most  important  of  all.  It  is  no  fault  in  others  that  the 
Methodist  Church  sends  more  soldiers  to  the  field,  more 
nurses  to  the  hospitals,  and  more  prayers  to  heaven  than 
any.  God  bless  the  Methodist  Church!  bless  all  the 
churches !  and  blessed  be  God,  who  in  this  our  great  trial 
giveth  us  the  churches. 

"(Signed)  A.Lincoln" 


THE    CHURCH  EXTENSION  SOCIETY  FOUNDED.     51;? 

A  change  which  had  the  practical  effect  of  rendering  at- 
tendance upon  the  class-meeting  voluntary  was  made  in 
the  chapter  relating  to  the  means  of  grace. 

Provision  was  made  for  the  constitution  of  a  General 
Board  of  Trustees,  to  hold  in  trust  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  any  and  all  donations,  be- 
quests, and  grants  made  to  the  church  without  special 
designation  or  direction. 

The  most  important  practical  innovation  was  without 
doubt  the  establishment  of  the  Church  Extension  Society, 
to  be  located  at  Philadelphia,  its  purpose  "  to  secure  suit- 
able houses  of  public  worship  and  such  other  church  prop- 
erty as  may  promote  the  general  design."  Its  constitution 
provided  the  usual  officers,  and  vested  its  property  in  a 
board  of  managers  lay  and  clerical.  Its  corresponding 
secretary  was  to  be  appointed  by  the  General  Conference, 
and  its  general  supervision  was  to  be  under  the  control 
of  a  general  committee  consisting  of  one  representative 
from  each  General  Conference  district.  A.  J.  Kynett,  del- 
egate from  the  Upper  Iowa  Conference,  who  had  been 
secretary  of  a  society  for  the  purpose  in  Iowa,  was  fore- 
most in  directing  the  attention  of  the  conference  to  the 
subject  and  in  perfecting  the  constitution.  Samuel  Y. 
Monroe,  D.D.,  of  the  New  Jersey  Conference,  was  ap- 
pointed its  first  corresponding  secretary,  and  the  enter- 
prise was  initiated  with  enthusiasm. 

Elaborate  provisions  were  made  for  the  celebration  in 
1866  of  the  centennial  of  American  Methodism.  A  com- 
mittee consisting  of  twelve  traveling  preachers  and  twelve 
laymen  was  to  be  appointed,  two  departments  of  Christian 
enterprise  were  to  be  placed  before  the  people, — one  con- 
nectional,  central,  and  monumental,  the  other  local  and  dis- 
tributive,— and  the  people  were  to  be  urged  to  make  lib- 
eral contributions  to  both  at  their  own  discretion.     The 


514  Tim  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  \.\. 

committee  of  ministers  and  laymen,  on  motion  of  Monroe, 
was  empowered  to  determine  to  wliat  objects  and  in  what 
proportion  the  money  raised  as  connectional  funds  should 
be  appropriated,  and  to  take  steps  necessary  to  the  proper 
distribution.  An  invitation  was  given  to  all  branches  of  the 
Methodist  family  in  this  and  other  lands  to  unite  with  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  centennial  celebration. 

Davis  Wasgatt  Clark,  Edward  Thomson,  and  Calvin 
Kingsley  were  elected  to  the  episcopacy.  Clark  was  a 
native  of  the  island  of  Mount  Desert,  Maine.  Educated 
as  Congregationalists,  his  parents  in  1815,  when  he  was 
three  years  old,  were  converted  under  the  preaching  of  a 
Freewill  Baptist  evangelist  who  visited  the  island.  With 
a  view  to  permanently  occupying  it,  the  island  was  visited 
for  the  first  time  by  a  Methodist  preacher  in  1828.  By 
his  labors  Clark  was  led  to  join  a  Methodist  class.  At  the 
age  of  nineteen  he  became  a  student  in  the  Maine  Wes- 
leyan  Seminary,  in  1834  he  entered  Wesleyan  University 
in  advance,  and  in  two  years  was  graduated  Bachelor  of 
Arts.  For  seven  years  thereafter  he  was  connected  with 
Amenia  Seminary  in  New  York,  for  two  as  assistant  teacher 
in  mathematics,  and  for  fi\  e  as  principal  instructor  in  phi- 
losophy and  English  literature.  He  entered  upon  the  reg- 
ular work  of  the  ministry  in  1843,  and  became  well  known 
as  a  newspaper  correspondent  and  as  an  author.  He  had 
been  editor  of  the  "  Ladies'  Repository  "  for  twelve  years 
when  elected  bishop.  During  this  period  he  published 
"  Death-bed  Scenes,"  "  Celebrated  Women,"  "  Home 
Views,"  and  "  Man  all  Immortal." 

Thomson  was  born  in  England  October  12,  18 10.  He 
left  his  native  country  when  seven  years  old,  coming  to 
America  with  his  parents,  brothers  and  sisters.  He  was 
graduated  in  medicine  before  he  was  twenty-one,  but 
while  studying  became  imbued  with  doubt  on  the  subject 


THOMSON  AND  KINGS  LEY.  515 

of  religion.  He  practiced  his  profession  twelve  years,  but 
was  religiously  impressed  by  the  sermons  of  Sheldon,  his 
pastor,  and  some  years  afterward  by  a  sermon  of  amazing 
force  and  earnestness  preached  by  Russel  Bigelow ;  and, 
much  to  the  dislike  of  his  father,  who  was  a  lay  officer  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  he  joined  the  Methodists,  soon  began 
to  preach,  rapidly  rose,  and  almost  rivaled  Summerfield  in 
popularity.  He  turned  aside  to  educational  work  and  wrote 
upon  the  subject ;  his  essays  were  published  in  the  United 
States  and  in  England,  and  Michigan  offered  him  the  chan- 
cellorship of  her  university.  He  was  elected  editor  of  the 
"  Ladies'  Repository  "  in  1844.  Soon  he  was  called  to  the 
headship  of  the  Ohio  VVesleyan  University,  where  his  suc- 
cess transcended  that  of  any  college  president  in  Methodism 
since  the  days  of  Fisk,  Durbin,  and  Olin.  At  the  time  of  his 
election  to  the  episcopacy  he  was  editor  of  the  "  Christian 
Advocate  and  Journal." 

Kingsley  was  preeminently  self-made.  He  was  born  in 
western  New  York,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen  became 
a  Christian  and  a  Methodist;  at  twenty-four  he  entered 
Allegheny  College,  having  for  a  long  time  supported  him- 
self by  teaching  and  other  work,  preparing  himself  for 
college  by  night  study.  In  five  years  he  worked  his  way 
through  the  scientific  course,  was  graduated  with  honor, 
immediately  elected  assistant  professor  of  mathematics, 
and  the  next  year  made  full  professor.  The  college 
being  obliged  to  suspend  on  account  of  the  loss  of  State 
aid,  he  entered  the  pastorate. 

In  the  antislavery  controversy  he  attained  fame  as  a 
debater,  and  devoted  his  powers  in  that  art  to  vindicating 
orthodox  Christianity  against  Unitarianism  and  the  doc- 
trine of  the  resurrection  against  Bush,  the  Swedenborgian. 
When  elected  bishop  he  had  been  for  eight  years  editor  of 
the  "Western  Christian  Advocate." 


5l6  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xx. 

J.  M.  Trimble  was  made  assistant  corresponding  sec- 
retary of  the  Missionary  Society,  Daniel  Curry  editor  of 
the  "  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal,"  B.  F.  Crary  of 
the  Central,  J.  M.  Reid  of  the  Western,  H.  C.  Benson 
of  the  Pacific,  and  D.  D.  Lore  of  the  "  Northern  Christian 
Advocate." 

The  vote  upon  the  subject  of  lay  delegation  during  the 
preceding  quadrennium  was,  of  the  ministers,  1338  for 
and  3069  against;  of  the  male  members,  28,884  for  and 
47*855  against.  The  Kentucky  Conference  was  not  re- 
ported. 

The  bishops  in  their  address  called  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  progress  of  the  federal  arms  had  thrown  open  to 
the  loyal  churches  of  the  Union  new  fields  of  Christian 
enterprise  and  labor,  which  for  nineteen  years  had  been 
in  the  occupancy  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  except  at  certain  points  where  they  had  penetrated 
that  territory,  as  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  claimed 
that  the  Southern  church  had  disregarded  the  Plan  of 
Separation  and  on  that  account  had  themselves  declared 
that  plan  null  and  void.  The  bishops  further  affirmed  that 
the  church  should  never  have  been  excluded  from  that 
portion  of  the  United  States,  and  should  never  have  con- 
sented on  any  ground  to  such  exclusion.  They  suggested 
that  in  advancing  in  the  South  the  church  should  go  preach- 
ing Christ,  and  him  crucified,  to  all  classes  of  people,  wel- 
coming back  such  ministers  and  members  as  were  cut  off" 
from  their  communion  without  their  voluntary  act;  yet 
avowed  it  to  be  their  solemn  judgment  that  none  should 
be  admitted  who  were  either  slave-holders  or  tainted  with 
treason. 

As  a  result  of  the  comparison  of  the  statistics  of  1863 
with  those  of  1859,  they  were  obliged  to  report  a  decrease 
of  50.95  I  members  and  probationers.    Of  these  many  had 


iVElV  BISHOP  FOR  LIBERIA.  517 

been  killed  in  battle  or  died  from  illness  and  wounds  dur- 
ing the  war. 

The  Liberia  Conference  was  authorized  to  elect  an  elder 
to  take  the  place  made  vacant  by  the  death  of  15ishop 
Burns.  John  Wright  Roberts  was  chosen,  and  came  to 
New  York  for  ordination,  which  was  conferred  June  20, 
1866,  in  St.  Paul's  Church,  New  York.  Roberts  was  the 
son  of  a  woman  who  had  escaped  from  slavery,  and  who, 
under  the  direction  of  the  Colonization  Society,  went  to 
Liberia,  taking  her  children  with  her.  There  her  three 
sons  joined  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The  eldest 
became  governor  of  the  colony  and  was  the  first  president 
of  the  republic ;  the  youngest  read  medicine,  attended 
lectures  in  New  York,  and  was  graduated  with  honor. 
John  Wright  Roberts  studied  theology  under  the  direction 
of  the  preacher  in  charge  of  Monrovia,  and  was  ordained 
elder  in  1841.  Bishop  Scott  visited  Liberia  in  1853  and 
met  Roberts,  by  whom  he  was  favorably  impressed.  His 
selection  by  the  Liberia  Conference  for  ordination  as  suc- 
cessor of  Burns  received  Scott's  full  indorsement,  and, 
assisted  by  Janes,  he  ordained  him. 

After  the  General  Conference  Clark  went  South,  en- 
deavoring to  reconstruct  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  that  part  of  the  country.  Several  conferences  had  been 
formed  in  the  South,  such  as  the  Kentucky,  the  Missouri, 
the  Arkansas,  and  the  Western  Virginia.  Clark  organized 
the  Holston  Conference  at  Athens,  Tenn.,  in  June,  1865, 
the  nucleus  being  six  ministers  transferred  from  the  North  ; 
forty-two  were  admitted,  thirty-two  from  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  several  of  them  aged  men  whose 
ministerial  life  antedated  the  division.  The  Mississippi 
Conference  was  organized  in  September  of  the  same  year. 
The  South  Carolina  and  the  Tennessee  were  organized 
in  1866,  and  on  January  3,   1867,  the  Texas  was  formed, 


5l8  ■JllE   MF/niOi:>lSTS.  [CirAi'.  XX. 

the  Georgia  October  lotli,  and  the  Alabama  October 
17th.  At  the  session  of  the  Kentucky  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  September,  1865, 
eighteen  ministers,  among  whom  were  some  of  marked 
ability,  withdrew  and  were  received  as  local  preachers  in 
a  Quarterly  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  at  the  ensuing  session  of  the  Kentucky  Conference 
were  received  into  full  connection  and  duly  appointed. 

The  local  troubles  attending  the  spread  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  Southern  States  at  that  time 
were  neither  greater  nor  less  than  might  have  been  ex- 
pected in  view  of  the  history  of  the  churches  and  of  the 
country,  the  situation,  and  the  state  of  the  public  mind  in 
the  North  and  South  respectively. 

The  Missionary  Society  appropriated  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars to  be  at  the  disposal  of  Bishop  Clark  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  school  for  freedmen.  It  was  located  at 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  was  opened  in  January,  1866,  under 
the  charge  of  the  Rev.  John  Seys  and  the  Rev.  O.  O. 
Knight.  The  government  fitted  up  an  armory  which  had 
been  abandoned  by  the  soldiers  of  the  Confederacy  upon 
the  approach  of  the  federal  army,  and  through  the  action 
of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  turned  it  over  to  this  school, 
which  in  its  second  year  had  eight  hundred  pupils.  Nash- 
ville, however,  soon  provided  public  instruction  for  colored 
children,  which  led  to  the  transformation  of  this  school  into 
a  college  for  the  higher  education  of  the  negro,  which 
was  chartered  in  1866,  and  the  following  year  began  its 
career  as  the  Central  Tennessee  College.  Under  the 
presidency  of  John  Braden  this  has  developed  into  an 
institution  commanding  universal  respect.  Besides  the 
ordinary  college  faculty,  it  has  theological,  medical,  law, 
and  industrial  departments. 

The  general  committee,  appointed  by  the  General  Con- 


CENTENNIAL    OF  AMERICAN  METHODISM.         519 

ference  of  1864  to  arrange  for  the  centennial  celebration, 
met  in  Cleveland,  O.,  in  February,  1865.  Abel  Stevens 
was  requested  to  prepare  a  centennial  volume,  and  John 
McClintock  to  add  a  chapter  explaining  the  action  of  the 
committee.  A  central  committee  consisting  of  Drs.  McClin- 
tock, Curry,  and  Crooks,  Oliver  Hoyt,  James  Bishop,  and 
Charles  C.  North  was  empowered  to  make  all  necessary 
arrangements.  The  propositions  which  they  submitted  to 
the  church  were  :  "  That  the  Centenary  Educational  Fund 
should  be  placed  before  the  people  as  the  prominent  object 
for  connectional  contributions,  and  that  if  any  contributors 
desired  to  specify  the  objects  of  their  subscriptions  in  whole 
or  in  part,  they  should  have  the  liberty  to  select  from  any 
one  of  the  following  interests:  i.  The  Centenary  Educa- 
tional Fund.  2.  The  Garrett  Biblical  School  at  Evanston. 
3.  The  Methodist  General  Biblical  Institute  at  Concord, 
to  be  removed  to  the  vicinity  of  Boston.  4.  A  Biblical 
Institute  in  the  Eastern  Middle  States.  5.  A  Biblical 
Institute  in  Cincinnati  or  vicinity.  6.  A  Biblical  Institute 
on  the  Pacific  coast.  Contributions  to  the  last  tliree  objects 
should  be  retained  and  managed  by  the  Educational  Board 
until  they  were  sure  that  enough  had  been  actually  raised 
from  other  sources  to  make  the  aggregate  amount,  includ- 
ing the  connectional  contributions,  for  these  respective 
objects  not  less  than  $150,000  in  each  case.  7.  The 
erection  of  a  centenary  missionary  building  for  the  Mission 
House  at  New  York.  8.  The  Irish  Connectional  Fund. 
9.  The  Biblical  School  at  Bremen,  Germany.  10.  The 
Chartered  Fund.  There  was  added  to  these  objects  the 
Sunday-school  Children's  Fund." 

The  Annual  Conferences  provided  for  the  delivery  on 
the  first  Sabbath  of  January,  1866,  of  memorial  sermons 
and  for  prayer  for  God's  blessing  upon  the  church.  The 
thank-offerings  of  the  people,  as  reported  to  the  General 


520  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xx. 

Conference  of  1868,  amounted  to  $8,709,498.39,  and  to 
this  sum  a  considerable  amount  was  subsequently  added. 
The  church  at  large  did  not  share  the  view  of  the  commit- 
tee that  the  principal  donations  should  be  connectional 
as  distinguished  from  local ;  hence  the  bishops  in  their  re- 
port say,  "  While  some  noble  donations  were  made  to  the 
Mission  House,  to  the  General  Educational  Fund,  and  to 
the  Irish  and  German  funds,  the  larger  part  of  the  contribu- 
tions were  given  to  colleges  and  seminaries,  and  for  the 
erection  and  improvement  of  church  edifices  and  parson- 
ages." The  sums  contributed  for  the  Irish  and  German 
funds,  for  the  Sunday-school  Children's  Fund,  for  Con- 
cord and  Garrett  Biblical  Institutes,  Drew  Theological 
Seminary,  and  the  Mission  House  reached  considerably 
over  $1,000,000.  Daniel  Drew,  a  layman  of  St.  Paul's 
Church  in  the  city  of  New  York,  gave  about  $600,000  at 
different  times,  of  which  $500,000  were  included  in  this 
report,  as  was  "  Heck  Hall,"  erected  by  the  Garrett  Biblical 
Institute  in  honor  of  Barbara  Heck. 

Notwithstanding  these  extraordinary  contributions,  the 
receipts  of  the  Missionary  Society  showed  an  unparalleled 
increase;  $1,304,507  more  than  had  been  received  in  any 
preceding  quadrennium  were  given  in  that  which  closed 
with  the  General  Conference  of  1868.  When  it  is  con- 
sidered that  in  the  earlier  part  of  this  period  the  people 
were  giving  liberally  to  the  Christian  and  Sanitary  Com- 
missions, and  in  the  latter  part  to  the  Freedmen's  Aid  and 
Church  Extension  Societies,  this  may  well  be  characterized 
as  "an  era  of  benevolence." 

A  number  of  those  ministers  who  seceded  from  the 
Methodist  Epi.scopal  Church,  and  who  with  Scott  and 
others  founded  the  Wesleyan  Connection  in  1843,  returned 
in  1867  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  among  them 
the   celebrated   debater  and   theologian,  Luther  Lee,  the 


FIRST  GENERAL  CONFERENCE  AFTER  THE  IVAR.     52  I 

ever- respected  Cyrus  Prindle,  and  the  historian  of  "  The 
Antislavery  Struggle  and  Triumph  in  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,"  Lucius  C.  Matlack. 

The  General  Conference  of  1868  met  in  Chicago,  111. 
Several  circumstances  justified  the  statement  of  the  bish- 
ops in  their  address,  that  never  in  the  history  of  the  church 
had  a  General  Conference  convened  under  more  favorable 
circumstances.  The  war  had  ended,  slavery  had  perished, 
and  in  the  last  four  years  there  had  been  a  gain  in  the 
South  of  550  traveling  preachers  and  117,326  members; 
27,225  members  and  177  tra\'eling  preachers  had  been 
added  to  the  conferences  in  Kentucky,  Missouri,  and 
Arkansas,  and  above  20,000  members  and  nearly  7000 
probationers  were  included  in  the  colored  conferences 
established  by  authority  of  the  Conference  of  1864.  The 
number  of  members  and  probationers  at  the  close  of 
1867  was  1,146,081,  an  increase  of  222,687,  the  largest 
in  the  history  of  the  church,  with  one  exception,  namely, 
the  last  quadrennium  of  the  united  church,  when  the  in- 
crease was  more  than  375,000. 

The  first  question  of  importance  was,  whether  provi- 
sional delegates,  chosen  by  the  mission  conferences  organ- 
ized in  the  South  during  and  after  the  war  under  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  last  General  Conference,  should  be  admitted. 
After  protracted  debate  and  various  attempts  to  har- 
monize the  sentiment  of  the  body,  resolutions  were  passed 
repealing  the  action  of  the  General  Conference  of  1864, 
restricting,  or  purporting  to  restrict,  the  rights  and  privi- 
leges of  the  Annual  Conferences  which  the  bishops  were 
authorized  to  form  within  the  United  States  and  Territories, 
declaring  the  conferences  so  formed  to  be  Annual  Confer- 
ences vested  with  all  the  rights,  privileges,  and  immunities 
usual  to  such  conferences,  and  admitting  the  provisional 
delegates  elected  by  them,  after  their  credentials  should 


522  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai-.  xx. 

have  been  approved  by  a  committee  appointed  for  the 
purpose.  Similar  action  was  taken  late  in  the  session 
concerning  all  action  of  previous  General  Conferences 
restricting  the  powers  of  mission  conferences,  and  the 
conferences  of  Liberia,  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  India 
were  declared  Annual  Conferences.  Pursuant  to  these 
resolutions,  a  delegate  from  India  was  admitted,  making 
an  addition  of  twelve  members  to  the  body  and  determin- 
ing the  policy  of  the  church  upon  a  momentous  subject. 

William  Morley  Punshon  represented  the  British  Wes- 
leyan  Conference,  and  made  an  extraordinary  impression 
upon  the  conference  in  Chicago  and  subsequently  through- 
out the  United  States. 

The  conference  received  a  deputation  of  eminent  lay- 
men asking  for  lay  representation.  They  were  invited  to 
the  platform,  and  on  the  i8th  of  May  were  introduced  to 
the  conference  by  the  president,  and  presented  their  ad- 
dress, which  was  read  and  ordered  to  be  printed.  The 
force  which  the  movement  had  gathered  can  be  inferred 
from  the  character  of  the  men  who  appeared  on  that  oc- 
casion. Among  them  were  Isaac  Rich,  Governor  William 
Claflin  of  Massachusetts,  Amos  Shinkle  of  Covington,  Ky., 
John  Owen  of  Detroit,  F.  H.  Root  of  Buffalo,  John  Evans 
of  Colorado,  Andrew  V.  Stout  of  New  York,  Oliver 
Hoyt  of  Connecticut,  and  General  Clinton  B.  Fisk,  the 
president  of  the  convention. 

At  a  later  period  a  deputation  of  laymen,  represent- 
ing a  committee  on  behalf  of  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  at  that  time  in  Chicago,  was  received 
in  a  similar  manner;  they  submitted  an  address  protesting 
against  the  introduction  of  lay  delegation  and  assuring  the 
conference  that  the  la}'men  signing  it  doubtetl  the  con- 
stitutional right  of  the  body  to  make  the  proposed  change 
without  previously  altering  the  restrictive  rule.      Among 


LAY  REPRESENTATION.  523 

these  were  George  J.  Hamilton  of  New  York  City,  Samuel 
Preston  of  Vrrmont,  and  William  H.  Whitehead  of  Chi- 
cago. 

Nearly  the  entire  conference  was  ready  to  grant  lay 
representation  when  it  should  be  ascertained  that  the 
people  desired  it,  but  a  radical  division  of  sentiment  ap- 
peared as  to  the  authority  of  the  General  Conference, 
though  a  large  number  of  the  members  assumed  that  to 
make  the  change  was  within  its  constitutional  powers.  A 
standing  committee  on  lay  representation  was  appointed, 
including  most  of  the  strongest  men  in  the  conference,  and 
E.  O.  Haven  was  elected  its  chairman.  On  the  twenty- 
second  day  majority  and  minority  reports  were  presented. 
The  majority  held  in  substance  that  the  conference  pos- 
sessed and  should  then  and  there  exercise  the  power  to 
enact  a  statute  providing  for  the  admission  of  laymen. 
The  minority  held  that  the  Second  Restrictive  Rule  must 
be  changed  before  such  a  statute  could  be  constitutionally 
enacted. 

The  debate  was  commensurate  with  the  importance  of  the 
subject  and  continued  for  several  days.  It  being  found  im- 
possible to  agree,  a  committee  of  conference  was  appointed, 
including  members  of  the  majority  and  the  minority, 
with  additions.  Their  report  as  amended  was  adopted  by 
a  vote  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-one ;  there  were  three 
votes  in  the  negative,  and  eight  members  were  absent. 

The  resolutions  were :  "  That  the  General  Conference 
declares  its  readiness  to  admit  lay  delegates  whenever  the 
people  desire  it,  and  recommends  to  the  godly  considera- 
tion of  the  ministers  and  members  a  change  of  the  Disci- 
pline, particularly  the  restrictive  rule  providing  that  the 
General  Conference  shall  be  composed  of  ministerial  and 
lay  delegates,  the  lay  to  consist  of  two  laymen  for  each 
Annual   Conference,  except  such  Annual  Conferences  as 


524  THE  METIIODISrS.  \CnKV.  xx. 

have  but  one  ministerial  delegate,  which  shall  have  one  lay 
delegate."  It  also  provided  for  a  lay  electoral  conference 
whereby  the  laymen  were  to  be  elected,  and  for  the  submis- 
sion in  the  month  of  June,  1869,  of  the  subject  for  an 
expression  of  opinion  by  the  laity  ;  and  it  provided  for  the 
election  in  the  several  places  of  worship  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  at  which  members  in  full  connection 
and  not  less  than  twenty-one  years  old  were  to  be  invited 
to  vote  by  ballot  for  or  against  lay  delegation.  It  further 
provided  that  the  bishops  at  the  several  Annual  Confer- 
ences, at  their  first  sessions  after  the  above  elections,  should 
lay  the  necessary  changes  in  the  Second  Restrictive  Rule 
before  these  bodies,  so  that  the  rule  should  be  altered  in 
harmony  with  the  proposition  so  as  to  read  "  the  confer- 
ence shall  be  composed  of  ministerial  and  lay  delegates." 
The  resolution  was:  "Should  a  majority  of  the  votes 
cast  by  the  people  be  in  favor  of  lay  delegation,  and 
should  three  quarters  of  the  Annual  Conferences  vote 
in  favor  of  the  proposed  change  in  the  constitution  of 
the  church,  then  the  General  Conference  of  1872,  by 
the  requisite  two-thirds  vote,  can  complete  the  change, 
and  lay  delegates  previously  elected  may  then  be  ad- 
mitted." 

A  commission  was  appointed,  to  be  known  as  the  com- 
missioners for  the  buildings  of  the  Book  Concern,  Mission- 
ary Society,  and  other  institutions  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  in  New  York. 

John  Eanahan  was  elected  to  take  the  place  of  Porter 
in  the  Book  Concern  in  New  York,  J.  M.  Walden  that  of 
Poe  in  Cincinnati.  S.  M.  Merrill  succeeded  Reid  as  editor 
of  the  Western,  Reid,  Eddy  in  the  Northwestern,  H.  C. 
Benson,  Thomas  as  editor  of  the  California,  and  Isaac  Dil- 
lon, Benson  as  editor  of  the  "  Pacific  Christian  Advocate." 
Daniel  Wise  was  elected  editor  of  the  "  Sunday-school 
Advocate  "  and  library  books,  and  John  H.  Vincent  editor 


BOARD   OF  EDUCATION  ESTABLISHED.  525 

of  the  "  Sunday-school  Journal  "  and  books  of  instruction. 
Samuel  Y.  Monroe,  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Church 
Extension  Society,  had  lost  his  life  in  February,  1867, 
by  falling  from  a  train  while  on  his  way  to  present  the 
cause  to  a  church  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  A.  J.  Kynett,  who 
had  been  previously  selected  by  the  bishops  to  fill  the 
vacancy  caused  by  his  death,  and  who  had  entered  upon 
his  duties  July  i,  1867,  was  elected  corresponding  secre- 
tary of  that  society. 

Propositions  looking  toward  a  union  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  were  received  from  the  African  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  and  the  African  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Zion  Church.  As  a  result  of  these  communications 
the  conference  ordered  the  appointment  of  a  commission 
to  confer  with  a  like  commission  from  the  African  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Zion  Church,  and  arrange  for  the  union  of 
that  body  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  cm- 
powered  it  to  treat  with  a  similar  commission  from  any 
other  Methodist  church  that  desired  like  union. 

A  petition  was  received  from  the  Rev.  L.  C.  Matlack 
and  fifteen  of  the  official  members  of  the  church  of  which 
he  was  pastor  at  Elkton,  Md.,  requesting  the  General 
Conference  to  rescind  the  resolutions  passed  by  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  1836  censuring  certain  of  its  members 
for  lecturing  on  and  in  favor  of  modern  abolitionism,  and 
in  particular  for  attending  an  abolition  convention  in  Cin- 
cinnati during  the  session  of  the  conference.  Such  action 
was  taken.  The  Rev.  Samuel  Norris,  who  with  George 
Storrs  had  been  censured  by  these  resolutions,  survived  to 
see  them  rescinded. 

The  perpetuation  of  the  Board  of  Education,  which  had 
been  provisionally  formed,  was  provided  for  by  the  adop- 
tion of  the  report  of  the  committee  on  education  presented 
by  John  McClintock,  chairman.  Its  duty  as  prescribed  in 
the  report  was  "to  invest  the  principal  of  the  Centenary 


526  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xx. 

Educational  Fund,  and  to  appropriate  the  interest  in  order 
to  help  young  men  preparing  for  the  ministry  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  and  for  its  foreign  missionary  work, 
and  to  aid  the  biblical  and  theological  schools  already  in 
existence,  and  such  as  may  with  the  approval  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  hereafter  be  established,  and  to  aid  uni- 
versities, colleges,  and  academies  now  existing,  and  those 
which  may  hereafter  be  founded  under  the  patronage  of 
the  church."  Future  contributions  were  to  be  held  in 
trust  by  the  board  for  the  assistance  of  the  needy  and 
worthy  seeking  an  education  in  the  church,  or  for  specific 
educational  purposes,  as  the  donors  or  the  conferences 
whence  the  contributions  came  should  direct.  Certain 
restrictions  guarding  the  integrity  of  the  fund  were  intro- 
duced into  the  charter. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  previous  to  1866  had 
cooperated  with  various  societies  established  for  the  care 
and  instruction  of  the  freedmen,  but  in  that  year  the 
Freedmen's  Aid  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
was  duly  organized  in  Cincinnati,  and  in  1866  and  1867  it 
received  the  cordial  approval  of  the  Annual  Conferences. 
This  General  Conference  on  the  ist  of  June  recognized  the 
society,  sanctioned  its  organization,  approved  its  objects, 
commended  it  to  the  liberal  support  of  the  people,  recom- 
mended the  conferences  to  place  it  upon  the  list  of  annual 
contributions,  and  authorized  the  bishops  to  appoint  a 
traveling  preacher  as  corresponding  secretary.  In  har- 
mony with  this  action,  Riciiard  S.  Rust,  who  had  been  con- 
nected with  the  organization  prior  to  its  recognition  by  the 
General  Conference,  was  chosen  corresponding  secretary. 
The  liberality  of  the  church  was  marked  even  before  this, 
for  at  the  end  of  the  first  year  it  had  received  $37,139.89. 
During  the  first  two  years  it  received  some  aid  from  the 
Freedmen's  Bureau. 


BOSTON  AND  SYRACUSE  UNIVERSITIES  FOUNDED.    527 

The  church  now  entered  upon  a  remarkable  career  of 
educational  development.  Boston  University  was  char- 
tered in  1869,  Isaac  Rich,  Lee  Claflin,  and  Jacob  Sleeper 
being  associated  in  its  foundation.  Rich  was  a  native  of 
Wellfleet,  Mass.  He  became  a  member  of  the  church 
when  twenty  years  of  age,  and  accumulated  a  large  fortune 
as  a  merchant.  Bereaved  of  his  children,  he  concentrated 
his  affections  upon  the  church,  and  began  to  give  early  in 
life,  bestowing  large  sums  upon  Wesleyan  Academy  and 
Wesleyan  University,  at  the  latter  erecting  a  beautiful 
library  hall.  Claflin  also  was  a  liberal  patron  of  these  insti- 
tutions, and  of  the  school  of  theology  of  Boston  University. 
He  contributed  extensively  to  the  establishment  of  a  sem- 
inary at  Orangeville,  S.  C,  now  known  as  the  Claflin 
University.  Sleeper  was  a  banker  and  a  native  of  Maine ; 
he  removed  to  Boston  in  1825  and  was  closely  connected 
with  every  noble  enterprise  of  the  church  and  city.  He 
was  at  one  time  mayor,  and  was  deeply  interested  in 
Harvard  University,  having  been  twelve  years  a  member 
of  its  board  of  overseers.  While  the  names  of  these  men 
must  be  connected  forever  with  the  great  institution  which 
they  founded,  there  were  others,  lay  and  clerical,  without 
whose  aid  it  could  never  have  been  established. 

Syracuse  University  was  chartered  in  1870  and  opened 
for  students  in  187 1.  It  is  the  successor  of  Genesee  Col- 
lege. The  plan  of  establishing  in  the  city  of  Syracuse  or 
immediate  vicinity  a  first-class  university  was  approved  at 
a  convention  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  held  at 
Syracuse  in  February,  1870,  and  steps  ordered  to  be  taken 
to  raise  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  its  endow- 
ment. The  brothers  Remington,  of  Ilion,  each  gave  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  Jesse  T.  Peck,  who  pre- 
sided, subscribed  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  Sub- 
scriptions were  made  without  regard  to  denomination ;  a 


528  THE  MKTIIODJSTS.  [CiiAi-.  xx. 

large  sum  was  given  by  the  Mon.  George  Y .  Comstock, 
of  Syracuse. 

During  the  four  years  succeeding  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  1868  tile  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  greatly 
bereaved.  Bishop  Baker,  who  had  suffered  from  partial 
paralysis  for  some  years,  died  on  the  8th  of  December, 
1871. 

Dr.  John  McClintock,  president  of  Drew  Theological 
Seminary,  the  most  universally  accomplished  man  Ameri- 
can Methodism  had  produced,  writer,  author,  translator, 
editor,  and  preacher,  and  who,  while  in  Paris  during  the 
Civil  War  as  pastor  of  the  American  chapel,  so  commanded 
the  confidence  of  President  Lincoln  that  he  declared  him 
to  be  worthy  for  the  position  of  minister  to  France,  died  on 
the  4th  of  March,  1870,  at  the  age  of  fifty-five. 

Charles  Pllliott,  author  and  editor,  missionary  to  the 
Indians  and  college  professor,  who  took  a  prominent  part 
in  nine  consecutive  General  Conferences,  and  had  edited 
three  of  the  "  Advocates,"  finished  his  useful  but  some- 
what stormy  career  on  January  6,  1869. 

Bishop  Clark,  who  was  in  his  usual  vigor  until  the  close 
of  the  year  1869,  rapidly  failed  in  the  spring  of  1870,  and 
on  April  6,  1871,  after  administering  the  communion  at 
the  New  York  Conference,  of  which  he  had  been  so  long  a 
member,  and  making  a  touching  address,  he  called  Bishop 
Simpson  to  the  chair  and  retired.  It  was  his  last  public 
effort,  and  he  died  on  the  23d  of  May. 

Bishop  Kingsley  had  been  appointed  to  visit  the  mis- 
sions in  China  and  India,  and  in  returning  went  to  the 
Holy  Land.  Accompanied  by  H.  Bannister,  of  the  Gar- 
rett Biblical  Institute,  who  was  then  in  Beirut,  on  the 
morning  of  April  6,  1870,  he  ascended  to  the  top  of  the 
house  to  view  the  heights  of  Lebanon.  After  breakfast 
he  was  attacked  with   heart  disease  and   died  in  a  few 


THE   BOOK  CONCEA'N  CONTKOVERSY. 


52y 


minutes.  Over  his  tomb  in  Beirut  stands  a  monument 
erected  by  American  Methodists. 

Bishop  Thomson  died  of  pneumonia  at  WheeHng",  W.  Va., 
March  22,  1870.  By  his  death  a  vacancy  was  made  which 
no  one  man  could  fill.  Porter  judiciously  observes  that 
"  he  was  a  man  of  deep  piety,  fine  taste,  tender  heart,  ex- 
tensive reading,  a  charming  preacher  and  writer,  and  gen- 
erally beloved.  He  lived  just  at  the  time  and  place  where 
his  rare  talents  were  needed  and  could  be  turned  to  the  best 
account." 

During  this  quadrennium  a  controversy  arose  in  the 
Book  Concern  at  New  York  which  seriously  agitated  the 
entire  denomination,  occasioning  acrimonious  discussion  in 
the  church  papers  and  much  scandal. 

Lanahan,  the  new  assistant  agent,  on  assuming  his 
duties  found  the  business  moving  in  well-worn  ruts.  A 
certain  proportion  of  the  letters  were  daily  placed  upon 
his  desk,  but  no  special  work  of  importance  seemed  to  fall 
naturally  into  his  hands.  Every  department  had  a  head, 
either  real  or  nominal.  He  therefore  set  himself  to  master 
the  workings  of  those  departments  which  had  been  spe- 
cially under  the  care  of  his  predecessor,  and  had  not  pro- 
ceeded far  before  he  discovered  what  seemed  to  him  serious 
irregularities  in  the  printing  and  bindery  departments. 
Speaking  with  frankness  to  the  agent,  he  did  not  receive 
the  cooperation  which  he  expected.  He  found  also  that 
the  subordinates  whose  methods  he  was  studying  were 
apprised  that  he  was  in  pursuit  of  them.  This  increased 
his  vigilance  and  activity,  and  rumors,  some  of  which  ex- 
aggerated and  others  distorted  the  facts,  spread  abroad 
through  the  paper,  ink,  leather,  and  various  other  trades. 
The  newspapers  began  to  publish  allegations  of  fraud  and 
defalcations  in  the  Methodist  Book  Concern. 

Publicity    aggravated    the    situation    and    divided    the 


530  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xx. 

church  into  factions.  The  agent  maintained  that  the 
methods  of  his  coadjutor  were  harsh  and  uncharitable  and 
that  his  accusations  were  not  always  sustained.  Various 
general  officers  of  the  church  sympathized  with  this  view, 
as  well  as  most  of  the  editors  of  the  church  papers,  and  the 
detector  of  frauds  found  himself  an  object  of  contumely 
as  an  accuser  of  the  brethren. 

The  Book  Committee  was  convened ;  the  assistant 
agent  presented  his  case,  and  the  committee  speedily 
divided,  a  majority  of  more  than  two  thirds  supporting  the 
agent,  the  remainder  approving  the  work  of  the  assistant 
agent.  The  ablest  men  of  the  committee  were  represented 
in  the  minority  as  well  as  in  the  majority.  Both  reports 
were  sent  out  to  the  Annual  Conferences,  where  in  most 
cases  the  majority  report  was  treated  with  respect  and  that 
of  the  minority  laid  on  the  table. 

The  assistant  agent  was  suspended  and  put  on  trial 
before  the  Book  Committee  and  the  bishops,  whose  con- 
current action  was  necessary  to  convict.  Before  the  com- 
pletion of  the  first  trial  the  charges  were  withdrawn. 

Subsequently  a  peculiar  controversy  arose  between  the 
agent  and  the  assistant  book  agent.  The  latter  liad  de- 
manded access  to  the  books  and  proposed  to  take  them 
aside  to  be  investigated  by  experts.  The  agent  refused 
to  surrender  them  for  the  purpose,  and  the  assistant  ap- 
pealed to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  New  York 
for  an  injunction  to  compel  him  to  do  so.  For  thus  taking 
the  affairs  of  the  church  into  the  civil  courts  he  was  sus- 
pended and  put  upon  trial  before  the  committee. 

When  the  proceedings  began  the  prosecution  was  rep- 
resented by  the  Hon.  E.  L.  Fancher  and  the  Hon.  Theo- 
dore Runyon,  and  the  defendant  by  the  Hon.  George  G. 
Reynolds,  of  Brooklyn,  and  J.  M.  Buckley.  The  committee 
first  decided  that  the  proceedings  should  take  place  in 


A    DIVIDED    COURT.  53 1 

private.  This  led  the  counsel  for  the  defendant  to  add  to 
their  number  the  Rev.  George  R.  Crooks,  editor  of  the 
"  Methodist,"  the  Rev.  Franklin  Ward  of  Baltimore  (an 
expert  stenographer),  the  Rev.  John  S.  Porter  of  New 
Jersey,  and  the  following  laymen:  John  A.  Wright  and 
Thomas  W.  Price  of  Philadelphia,  and  John  Elliott  and 
Oliver  Hoyt  of  New  York.  Whereupon  the  committee 
voted  that  the  proceedings  should  take  place  in  open  ses- 
sion and  that  reporters  of  the  daily  press  should  be  admitted. 

The  result  of  the  second  trial  was  that  the  majority  of 
the  committee  found  the  defendant  guilty  of  having  taken 
the  affairs  of  the  church  into  the  civil  courts,  and  decided 
that  he  should  be  removed  from  his  office.  Bishops 
Janes  and  Ames  divided;  the  former  paid  a  high  tribute 
to  Lanahan,  who,  he  intimated,  had  made  important  dis- 
coveries, but  also  stated  that  after  long  hesitation  he  had 
reached  the  conclusion  that  it  was  his  duty  to  concur  with 
the  vote  of  the  committee  removing  him.  Ames  decHned 
to  do  this.  As  the  law  required  that  at  least  two  bishops 
should  concur  in  the  finding,  this  result  left  the  assistant 
agent  in  possession  of  his  office. 

Meanwhile  the  subject  of  lay  representation  was  before 
the  church,  as  provided  in  the  plan  proposed  by  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  1868.  For  a  long  time  it  was  doubt- 
ful whether  the  necessary  three-quarters'  vote  of  the 
ministry  could  be  obtained,  but  so  serious  was  the  feud 
and  so  sharp  the  division  that  many  who  had  no  sympathy 
with  lay  representation  as  such  became  convinced  that  the 
enterprises  of  the  denomination  had  become  so  large  and 
the  possibilities  of  evil  so  great  that  the  counsel  and  dis- 
interested arbitrating  influence  of  laymen  in  the  General 
Conference  were  indispensable  to  the  future  welfare  of  the 
church,  and  the  requisite  number  was  secured. 


CHAPTER   XXI. 

FRATERNAL   RELATIONS    AND    THEIR    CONCOMITANTS. 

When  the  General  Conference  of  1872  assembled  in 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  the  bishops,  through  Simpson,  reported 
that  each  conference  had  voted  on  the  proposition  to  alter 
the  Second  Restrictive  Rule  so  as  to  add,  "  not  more  than, 
two  lay  delegates  for  each  Annual  Conference,"  and  that 
the  residt  was,  for  the  proposed  ciiange,  4915,  against  it, 
1597,  blank,  4,  showing  that  the  necessary  three  fourths 
have  been  obtained,  with,  however,  only  32  votes  to  spare. 

Awaiting  admission,  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  lay 
delegates,  provisionally  elected,  appeared  at  the  door  of 
the  General  Conference.  As  soon  as  the  body  was  organ- 
ized the  bishops  made  the  foregoing  report,  and  after  dis- 
cussions and  various  resolutions,  by  a  vote  of  two  hundred 
and  eighty-three  in  the  affirmative  and  six  in  the  negative, 
the  General  Conference  formally  concurred  with  the  An- 
nual Conferences  in  changing  the  Second  Restrictive  Rule. 
By  a  subsequent  vote  the  plan  of  lay  delegation  was 
adopted,  thirty-six  voting  in  the  negative ;  and  by  a  vote 
of  two  hundred  and  eighty- eight  to  one  was  ordered  the 
calling  of  the  roll  of  the  laymen  whose  certificates  of  elec- 
tion were  in  the  hands  of  the  secretary,  and  their  admission 
to  seats  in  the  General  Conference  allowed. 

The  negative  vote  was  cast  by  the  late  Dr.  WiUiam  H. 

532 


rROPHECY  FULFILLED.  533 

Perrine,  of  Michigan,  who  held,  vindicating  his  view  with 
abiUty,  that  the  clergy  and  the  laity  should  sit  in  sepa- 
rate houses  and  that  the  plan  as  adopted  contained  grave 
defects  which  would  work  injury  to  the  church. 

Through  their  chairman.  Dr.  James  Strong,  the  lay 
delegates  after  being  seated  presented  an  address  to  the 
conference.  It  recognized  the  gravity  and  responsibility 
of  the  hour  and  the  train  of  divine  providence  that  had  led 
to  it ;  deprecated  any  separation  of  so-called  temporal  and 
spiritual  powers  of  the  joint  body  as  between  its  lay  and 
its  clerical  members ;  and  declared  that  the  laity  did  not 
enter  the  body  to  propose  any  sudden  or  radical  change 
in  the  practical  machinery  of  the  church. 

The  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  six  years  before  this  had  admitted  laymen 
both  to  the  General  and  Annual  Conferences,  according  in 
the  former  equal  representation  and  in  the  latter  in  the 
ratio  of  four  delegates  to  each  presiding  elder's  district. 

Thus  was  fulfilled  the  prediction  of  Nicholas  Snethen, 
made  in  1834:  "  If  we  are  true  to  it  [the  pure,  unmixed 
question  of  representation],  if  we  are  not  ashamed  of  it, 
if  we  glory  in  it,  it  must  finally  prevail  and  proselyte 
every  Methodist  in  the  United  States.  They  may,  indeed, 
remain  Episcopal  Methodists,  but  so  sure  as  we  are  not 
moved  .away  from  our  high  calling,  the  whole  lump  will 
be  leavened  into  representative  Methodists."^ 

In  addition  to  the  usual  standing  committee,  the  confer- 
ence ordered,  on  the  ninth  day  of  the  session,  a  special 
committee  on  the  affairs  of  the  Book  Concern,  to  be  com- 
posed of  one  member  from  each  delegation,  to  be  elected 
by  the  delegations  respectively;  to  this  were  referred  all 
reports  and  papers  relative  to  alleged  irregularities  and 
frauds   in   the   Book   Concern.      On   that  committee  were 

1   Editorial,  "  Mtithodist  Protestant,"  new  series. 


534  'J'l^^-    METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxi. 

appointed  noted  manufacturers,  distinguished  lawyers, 
merchants  in  large  business,  eminent  financiers,  such  as 
John  Evans  of  Colorado,  John  Owen  of  Michigan,  Wash- 
ington C.  DePauw  of  Indiana,  Amos  Shinkle  of  Kentucky, 
William  Deering  of  Maine,  Grant  Goodrich  of  Chicago, 
Alexander  Bradley  of  Pittsburg,  and  Judge  Dennis  Cooley 
of  Iowa.      They  reported  that : 

"  Repeated  frauds  have  been  practiced  upon  the  Book 
Concern.  These  frauds  are  found  in  the  manufacturing 
department,  and  are  located  chiefly,  if  not  wholly,  in  the 
bindery.  Mr.  Hofifman  was  superintendent  of  this  depart- 
ment at  the  time  of  the  perpetration  of  these  frauds,  and 
the  evidence  indicates  that  for  a  series  of  years  he  carried 
on  a  system  of  frauds  by  which  the  Concern  sustained 
very  considerable  losses,  the  amount  of  which  it  is  impos- 
sible to  indicate  with  accuracy.  .  .  .  Also  that  the  busi- 
ness entries  of  the  years  1862  and  1864,  including  also 
the  bindery  and  periodical  account  of  1861,  are  totally 
inexcusable  as  specimens  of  accounts. 

"  Also  that  the  losses  sustained  by  frauds  and  irregular- 
ities are  not  of  such  magnitude  as  to  endanger  the  finan- 
cial strength  of  the  Book  Concern  or  materially  impair  its 
capital. 

"  That  there  are  no  reasonable  grounds  or  proofs  to  jus- 
tify an  assumption  that  any  agent  or  assistant  agent  is 
or  has  been  implicated  or  interested  in  any  frauds  which 
have  been  practiced  on  the  Book  Concern.    .    .    ." 

In  reference  to  the  purchasing  of  paper  througii  the  son 
of  a  former  agent,  the  committee  reported  that,  "  under 
all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  we  unhesitatingly  regard 
it  as  a  decided  business  impropriety."  Also  that  in  cer- 
tain transactions  of  the  Book  Concern  with  Messrs.  Brown 
Brothers  &  Company,  it  was  an  unauthorized  use  of  the 
credit  of  the  Book  Concern  for  the  benefit  of  outside  par- 


SEl^TLEMENT  OF  BOOK  CONCERN   TROUBLES.     535 

ties.  The  committee  say  tliat  they  may  reasonably  beheve 
that  the  motives  which  prompted  to  the  act  were  to  pro- 
mote the  interests  of  the  Concern  and  to  accommodate 
the  missionary  society  of  anotlier  denomination.  "  Yet," 
say  the  committee,  "  to  guard  against  its  influence  as  a 
precedent,  we  call  your  attention  to  it  as  an  error  fraught 
with  peril  to  the  interests  of  the  Book  Concern,  which 
should  not  be  sanctioned."  ^ 

The  report  of  the  special  committee  was  adopted  with- 
out debate  and  with  little  open  opposition.  While  it  was  not 
wholly  satisfactory  to  the  assistant  agent  and  decidedly  un- 
satisfactory to  those  who  had  steadily  denied  the  existence 
of  frauds  of  any  importance,  its  conclusions  made  a  strong 
impression  upon  the  General  Conference  and  led  to  the 
adoption  of  a  remarkable  system  for  the  management  of 
the  Book  Concerns  East  and  West. 

It  was  decided  that  it  was  not  proper  to  nominate  for 
members  of  the  Book  Committee  for  the  coming  four  years 
those  who  had  served  on  that  committee  for  the  past  four 
years,  that  it  was  not  advisable  that  either  of  the  recent 
book-agents  should  be  placed  upon  the  Book  Committee, 
that  the  distinction  between  the  agent  and  the  assistant 
agent  should  be  removed,  and  that  two  agents  of  equal 
authority  should  be  elected  quadrennially. 

Provision  was  made  that  of  six  members  of  the  Book 
Committee,  three  should  reside  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York 
and  three  in  the  vicinity  of  Cincinnati,  and  that  at  least  once 
a  month  the  agents  in  each  city  should  confer  with  the  three 
nearest  to  them  (known  as  the  Local  Committee) ;  that  the 
three  at  New  York  and  the  three  at  Cincinnati  should  have 
power  to  suspend  an  agent  or  editor  for  causes  to  them 
sufficient ;   and  that  a  time  should  be   fixed  as  early    as 

1  For  full  report  of  committee  and  other  reports  and  memorials,  see 
appendix  to  "Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1872." 


536  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxi. 

practicable  for  the  investigation,  due  notice  having  been 
given  by  the  chairman  of  the  Book  Comniittee  to  the 
bishops,  who  should  select  one  of  their  number  to  preside ; 
and  that  two  thirds  of  the  General  Conference  represent- 
atives should  be  necessary  to  remove  the  said  agent  or 
editor. 

The  court  of  appeals  was  discontinued  and  a  Judicial 
Conference  pro\'ided  for  whereby  any  convicted  were  given 
an  opportunity  of  securing  the  determination  of  an  appeal 
without  delay  in  the  interval  between  one  General  Con- 
ference and  another. 

A  new  rule  concerning  amusements  was  enacted,  adding 
to  the  question  relating  to  imprudent  conduct  the  words, 
"  dancing,  playing  at  games  of  chance,  attending  theaters, 
horse-races,  circuses,  dancing  parties,  or  patronizing  danc- 
ing schools,  or  taking  such  other  amusements  as  are  ob- 
viously of  misleading  or  questionable  moral  tendency."  A 
large  minority  voted  against  this  statute  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  necessarily  incomplete  and  tended  to  weaken 
the  force  of  the  general  rule  on  the  subject.  The  consti- 
tutionality of  it  has  been  questioned,  but  all  attempts  to 
expunge  it  have  been  defeated  by  a  majority  at  least  as 
large  as  it  originally  received. 

A  rule  was  passed  requiring  the  classification  of  bishops 
as  effective  and  non-effective,  and  Bishop  Morris,  far  ad- 
vanced in  years  and  broken  with  infirmity,  was  returned 
as  non-effective.  The  support  of  the  bishops  was  referred 
to  the  people. 

The  need  of  reinforcing  the  episcopacy,  caused  by  the 
rapid  growth  of  the  church  and  the  extent  of  its  territory 
at  home  and  abroad,  the  deaths  of  the  bishops  elected  in 
1864,  the  non-effecti\'eness  of  Morris,  and  the  feebleness 
and  advancing  years  of  Scott,  made  necessary  the  election 
of  the  unparalleled  number  of  eight  bishops. 


EIGHT  NEW  BISHOPS.  537 

.  Thomas  Bowman,  the  first  chosen,  was  born  in  Penn- 
sylvania, July  15,  181  7.  He  was  graduated  from  Dickinson 
College,  early  became  a  famous  preacher,  was  chaplain  of 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  was  the  first  principal  of 
Dickinson  Seminary  at  Williamsport,  Pa.,  and  had  been 
president  of  the  Indiana  Asbury  University  for  the  four- 
teen years  preceding  his  election. 

William  L.  Harris  was  born  November  4,  181 7,  in  Ohio, 
entered  the  ministry  in  1835,  acted  as  pastor  for  eleven 
years,  and  was  subsequently  principal  of  Baldwin  Institute 
in  Ohio ;  for  nine  years  was  professor  of  chemistry  and 
natural  history  in  Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  and  for  the 
preceding  twelve  years  had  been  assistant  corresponding 
secretary  of  the  Missionary  Society. 

Randolph  S.  Foster  was  born  in  Ohio,  February  2,  1820. 
He  was  an  alumnus  of  Augusta  College,  Kentucky,  began 
preaching  when  seventeen  years  old,  was  twenty-three 
years  a  member  of  the  Ohio  Conference,  and  had  been 
twenty-two  years  in  New  York  and  vicinity  when  elected 
bishop,  at  which  time  he  was  president  of  Drew  Theo- 
logical Seminary. 

Isaac  W.  Wiley  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  March  29, 
1825.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  was  licensed  to  preach. 
He  was  graduated  as  a  physician  from  the  University  of 
New  York.  From  1850  to  1854  he  was  a  medical  mis- 
sionary at  Foochow,  China,  after  which  he  was  pastor  in 
Newark,  Jersey  City,  and  vicinity,  and  for  five  years  princi- 
pal of  Pennington  Seminary.  For  the  eight  years  preced- 
ing his  election  to  the  episcopacy  he  was  editor  of  the 
"  Ladies'  Repository." 

Stephen  M.  Merrill  was  born  September  16,  1825,  in 
Ohio.  Not  graduated  from  any  college,  by  protracted 
study  he  superinduced  upon  an  excellent  elementary  train- 
ing a  solid  structure  of  sound  and  diversified  learning.     His 


538  THE  METHODISTS.  [Ciiai>.  xxi. 

ministerial  life  had  been  spent  in  the  presiding  eldership 
and  the  pastorate,  the  former  being  the  position  he  occu- 
pied when  elected  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference 
of  1868,  where  his  mental  equipoise,  mastery  of  constitu- 
tional principles,  and  clearness  of  expression  profoundly 
impressed  that  body,  and  he  was  elected  editor  of  the 
"Western  Christian  Advocate." 

Gilbert  Haven  was  born  in  Maiden,  Mass.,  September 
19,  1 82 1.  He  was  an  alumnus  of  Wilbraham  Academy 
and  of  Wesleyan  University  of  the  class  of  1846.  After 
some  years  of  teaching  he  entered  the  ministry.  Early 
in  the  Civil  War  he  served  as  chaplain ;  later  he  tra\-eled 
in  Europe  and  the  East,  resuming  the  ministry  on  his  re- 
turn. For  the  five  years  before  his  election  he  had  been 
editor  of  "  Zion's  Herald." 

Edward  G.  Andrews  was  born  in  western  New  York, 
August  7,  1825.  An  alumnus  of  Wesleyan  University 
of  the  class  of  1847,  he  entered  the  ministry  at  the  age 
of  twenty-three.  After  filling  pastorates  for  eight  years 
he  became  professor  in  the  Oneida  Conference  Seminary 
at  Cazenovia,  N.  Y.,  of  which  he  was  subsequently  presi- 
dent for  eight  years.  He  filled  important  positions  in  the 
New  York  East  Conference,  and  when  elected  bishop  was 
the  pastor  of  the  Seventh  Avenue  Church  in  the  city  of 
Brooklyn. 

Jesse  T.  Peck,  also  a  native  of  western  New  York,  was 
sixty-one  years  of  age  when  elected  to  the  episcopacy. 
He  was  licensed  to  preach  at  sixteen,  but  did  not  enter 
a  conference  until  five  years  later.  Besides  filling  pastor- 
ates and  the  presiding  eldership  as  far  south  as  Baltimore 
and  as  far  west  as  California,  he  had  been  principal  of  two 
seminaries,  president  of  Dickinson  College,  and  secretar}' 
and  editor  of  the  tract  department  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church. 


EDUCATIONAL   PROVISION  FOR  FREEDMEN.        539 

The  General  Conference,  having  ordered  the  establish- 
ment of  a  German  family  magazine  named  "  Haus  und 
Herd,"  elected  Henry  Liebhart  editor.  John  P.  Durbin 
was  made  honorary  secretary  of  the  Missionary  Society, 
and,  Harris  having  been  elected  bishop,  Robert  L.  Dash- 
iell,  Thomas  M.  Eddy,  and  John  M.  Reid  were  elected 
corresponding  secretaries.  Richard  S.  Rust  and  Erastus 
O.  Haven  were  elected  respectively  corresponding  secre- 
taries of  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society  and  of  the  Board  of 
Education.  Erastus  Wentworth,  a  genius  with  literary 
tastes  and  acquisitions,  and  who  had  been  professor  in 
Dickinson  College  and  missionary  in  China,  succeeded 
Wiley  as  editor  of  the  "  Ladies'  Repository,"  Francis  S. 
Hoyt,  Merrill  as  editor  of  the  Western,  Benjamin  St. 
James  Fry,  Crary  as  editor  of  the  Central,  William  Hunter, 
Nesbit  as  editor  of  the  Pittsburg  "  Christian  Advocate," 
and  Nelson  E.  Cobleigh  was  elected  editor  of  the  new 
"  Methodist  Advocate  "  at  Atlanta,  Ga.  Arthur  Edwards 
succeeded  Reid  in  the  Northwestern;  he  had  been  assist- 
ant editor  of  that  paper  for  eight  years. 

Reuben  Nelson,  of  the  Wyoming  Conference,  who 
founded  the  Wyoming  Conference  Seminary  in  1844  and 
filled  the  position  of  principal  for  twenty-seven  years,  suc- 
ceeded Carlton,  and  John  M.  Phillips,  a  lay  delegate  from 
the  Cincinnati  Conference,  long  connected  with  the  Book 
Concern  in  Cincinnati,  succeeded  Lanahan  as  agent  of  the 
Book  Concern  at  New  York. 

The  progress  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
South  led  to  the  establishment  of  Clark  University  at  At- 
lanta, Ga.,  New  Orleans  University  at  New  Orleans,  La., 
and  Wiley  University  at  Marshall,  Tex.,  for  the  education 
of  the  freedmen,  though  students  were  admitted  without 
distinction  of  race,  sex,  or  previous  condition.  Isaac  Rich 
bequeathed  the  bulk  of  his  estate,  valued  at  more  than 


540  .  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxi. 

a  million  and  a  half  dollars,  to  Boston  University,  and  soon 
after  the  adjournment  of  the  conference  the  College  of 
Music  and  the  School  of  Law  were  organized;  in  1873  the 
College  of  Liberal  Arts  and  the  School  of  Medicine,  and 
one  year  later  the  School  of  Science. 

Bishop  Morris  died  at  Springfield,  O.,  September  2, 1874, 
having  been  licensed  to  preach  sixty  years  before.  Brev- 
ity, point,  and  pith  characterized  his  preaching,  sagacity 
his  counsel  and  administration,  and  cordiality  his  spirit. 
Roberts,  missionary  bishop  for  Africa,  died  at  Monrovia, 
Liberia,  January  30,  1875.  Thomas  M.  Eddy,  whose 
election  to  the  missionary  secretaryship  was  received  with 
so  much  favor,  survived  only  until  October  7,  1874,  and 
died,  universally  admired  and  beloved,  leaving  a  merited 
reputation  for  eloquence.  As  missionary  secretary  he  was 
equally  efficient  as  an  administrator  and  a  systematic  worker 
in  the  office  and  a  brilliant  and  persuasive  orator.  Two  of 
the  official  editors  died,  Cobleigh  of  the  Atlanta  "Methodist 
Advocate,"  who  had  been  college  professor  and  president, 
editor  of  "  Zion's  Herald,"  and  again  college  president,  on 
February  i,  1874;  and  in  June,  1875,  Dallas  D.  Lore,  of  the 
"Northern  Christian  Advocate,"  eminent  as  missionary  to 
South  America,  where  he  was  seven  years  pastor  in  Buenos 
Ayres,  and  as  pastor  and  preacher  in  this  country.  Peter 
Cartwright  concluded  a  ministry  of  more  than  seventy  years, 
during  which  he  was  pioneer  preacher,  a  presiding  elder  for 
fifty-four  years,  and  a  member  of  thirteen  General  Confer- 
ences. Ludwig  S.  Jacoby,  founder  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal mission  in  Germany,  also  died  before  the  General  Con- 
ference, which  con\'encd  in  Baltimore  in  1876.  Important 
fjuestions  came  before  this  body  ;  among  them  a  proposition 
to  add  certain  articles  of  faith  which  had  been  recommended 
to  the  General  Conference  of  1872,  and  referred  to  the  bish- 
ops, who,  after  consideration,  did  not  reconuncnd  the  action. 


THE   ''COLOR  line:'  54 1 

on  the  ground  that  their  adoption  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence would  be  in  violation  of  the  First  Restrictive  Rule. 

A  woman  had  been  presented  for  license  as  a  local 
preacher,  but  the  presiding  elder  had  decided  it  to  be 
unauthorized  by  the  Discipline  and  usages  of  the  church. 
An  appeal  was  taken  to  Bowman,  presiding  at  the  North 
Indiana  Conference,  who  sustained  and  affirmed  the  de- 
cision. An  appeal  was  taken  to  the  General  Conference, 
which  body  declared  the  "  said  decision  to  be  correct  and 
agreeable  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Discipline."  At 
the  same  conference  was  adopted  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee on  the  state  of  the  church  adverse  to  the  licensing 
and  ordaining  of  women  as  ministers  of  the  gospel. 

The  following  resolutions  relating"  to  mixed  and  separate 
conferences  were  passed : 

"  Resolved,  I.  That  where  it  is  the  general  desire  of  the 
members  of  an  Annual  Conference  that  there  should  be 
no  division  of  such  conference  into  two  or  more  conferences 
in  the  same  territory ;  and  where  it  is  not  clearly  to  be 
seen  that  such  division  would  favor  or  improve  the  state 
of  the  work  in  any  conference ;  and  where  the  interests 
and  usefulness  of  even  a  minority  of  the  members  of  such 
conference,  and  of  the  members  of  churches  in  such  con- 
ference, might  be  damaged  or  imperiled  by  division ;  it 
is  the  opinion  of  this  General  Conference  that  such  division 
should  not  be  made. 

"  Resolved,  2.  That  whenever  it  shall  be  requested  by 
a  majority  of  the  white  members,  and  also  a  majority  of 
the  colored  members,  of  any  Annual  Conference  that  it  be 
divided,  then  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  General  Conference 
that  such  division  should  be  made ;  and  in  that  case  the 
bishop  presiding  is  hereby  authorized  to  organize  the  new 
conference  or  conferences." 

These  resolutions  occasioned  much  discussion  and  ad- 


542  'J'HE   MEJIJODISTS.  [Chai'.  xxi. 

verse  criticism,  which  has  continued  to  this  day.  Those 
who  advocated  the  continuation  of  mixed  conferences 
held  that  any  movement  toward  separation  would  encour- 
age the  spirit  of  caste  ;  that  this,  before  the  war,  was  the 
result  of  slavery,  and,  the  civil  freedom  of  the  colored 
people  being  assured,  should  these  resolutions  pass,  they 
would  now  have  fewer  privileges  in  the  church  than  they 
had  in  the  country.  It  was  also  argued  that  it  was  the 
duty  of  the  church  to  continue  mixed  conferences  in 
order  to  aflford  a  better  opportunity  to  the  white  preachers 
to  assist  in  educating  the  colored  and  elevating  them 
and  the  colored  members  in  social  and  religious  character. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  was  maintained  that  the  question 
was  one  of  expediency,  and  that  the  recognition  of  caste 
in  any  offensive  sense  was  not  implied  ;  that  no  removal  of 
privileges  was  proposed ;  that  the  object  was  simply  to 
give  the  advantage  of  preference,  and  this  as  much  to 
the  colored  people  as  to  the  whites.  It  was  argued 
that  there  was  not  a  single  church  of  white  members 
with  a  colored  preacher,  nor  a  single  district  of  white 
churches  with  a  colored  presiding  elder;  that  most  of 
the  districts  were  by  preference  either  all  colored  or  all 
white. 

Many  still  hold  that  this  action  was  inconsistent  and 
retrogressive,  and  that,  regardless  of  consequences  to  the 
"  white  work  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
South,"  its  whole  work  there  should  ha\-e  ignored  the 
question  of  race  among  those  who  speak  the  same  lan- 
guage. 

At  this  conference  an  effort  was  made  to  modify  the 
presiding  eldership  so  as  to  give  Annual  Conferences 
power  to  elect  the  elders  over  the  districts,  and  to  con- 
stitute them  an  advisory  council  with  coordinate  power. 
Twenty-seven  Annual  Conferences  had  reported  action  in 


REVISION  OF  HYMN-BOOK  ORDERED.  543 

favor  of,  and  eighteen  against,  some  modification  in  the 
office.  Twelve  lay  electoral  conferences  had  reported 
action  in  favor  of  modification,  and  eight  against  it.  The 
subject  was  referred  to  the  committee  on  itinerancy,  and 
two  reports  were  presented.  The  majority  reported  in 
favor  of  submitting  the  question  of  amending  the  restric- 
tive rule  so  as  to  allow  the  conferences  to  determine  the 
number  of  districts  within  the  limits  of  two  and  eight,  and 
to  make  certain  minor  changes ;  but  reported  against  a 
change  of  the  Discipline  so  as  to  allow  the  election  of 
presiding  elders.  The  minority  report,  signed  by  twenty- 
s'x,  proposed  to  give  the  conferences  power  to  determine 
the  number  of  districts  between  the  limits  of  two  and  ten, 
to  require  the  bishops  in  forming  the  districts  to  do  so 
"with  the  advice  of  the  presiding  elders,"  and  to  restrict 
the  bishops  in  appointing  presiding  elders  to  selections 
from  those  who  should  be  nominated  by  a  majority  of  the 
Annual  Conferences  by  ballot  without  debate.  There 
was  a  proviso  that,  in  case  the  presiding  bishop  should 
deem  that  the  interests  of  the  church  demanded  that  any 
person  so  nominated  be  otherwise  employed,  he  should 
announce  his  decision  to  the  conference,  which  should 
then  proceed  to  make  other  nominations  until  the  required 
number  was  attained. 

After  a  thorough  discussion,  reviewing  former  contro- 
versies upon  the  subject  and  giving  equal  attention  to  the 
constitutional  bearings  of  the  question  and  to  its  expe- 
diency, a  decisive  motion  to  substitute  the  minority  report 
for  that  of  the  majority  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty-three  in  the  affirmative  and  one 
hundred  and  ninety-five  in  the  negative.  The  majority 
report  was  then  amended  and  adopted. 

The  conference  decided  to  revise  the  hymn-book,  and 
the   bishops    were    ordered    to    appoint   a   committee    of 


544  ^■^^^'   METIIODJSrS.  [Chap.  xxi. 

fifteen,  five  to  be  selected  from  the  Eastern  States,  five 
from  the  Central,  and  five  from  the  Western.  The  General 
Conference  decided  that  no  hymn  now  in  use  should  be 
excluded  without  a  vote  of  two  thirds  of  the  committee 
for  its  rejection,  and  that  no  hymn  not  now  in  the  collec- 
tion should  be  admitted  without  a  vote  of  two  thirds  of 
the  committee  in  its  favor,  and  that  after  the  committee 
should  have  concluded  their  work  it  should  be  submitted 
to  the  bishops. 

When  the  General  Conference  of  1848  declined  to  enter 
into  fraternal  relations  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  Lovick  Pierce  informed  the  body  that  that 
communication  was  final  on  the  part  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  "  which  could  never  renew  the 
oflfer  of  fraternal  relations,  but  that  the  proposition  could 
be  renewed  at  any  time  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church."  1 

From  then  until  May,  1869,  no  communication  took 
place  between  the  two  churches;  but  at  this  time  the 
bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in\-ited  the 
bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  to  con- 
fer on  the  propriety,  practicability,  and  methods  of  reunion. 
The  latter  directed  the  attention  of  the  former  to  "  the  es- 
tablishment of  fraternal  relations  "  as  a  necessary  prelimi- 
nary. The  correspondence  bein^-  reported  to  the  General 
Conference  of  1872,  it  passed  the  following: 

"  To  place  ourselves  in  the  truly  fraternal  relations  to- 
ward our  Southern  brethren  which  the  sentiments  of  our 
people  demand,  and  to  pre{)are  the  way  for  the  opening 
of  formal  fraternity  with  them  ;  it  is  hereby 

"  Resolved,  That  this  General  Conference  will  appoint  a 
delegation,  consisting  of  two  ministers  and  one  layman,  to 
convey  our  fraternal  greetings  to  the  General  Conference 
1  See  page  4S3. 


A    SCENE    OF  SOLEMN  JOY. 


545 


of  the   Methodist   Episcopal   Church,   South,   at  its   next 
ensuing  session." 

This  delegation  consisted  of  Albert  S.  Hunt,  Charles  H. 
Fowler,  and  General  Clinton  B.  Fisk,  who  appeared  before 
the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  in  1874,  and  were  warmly  received.  That  body 
requested  the  bishops  to  appoint  a  delegation  of  two  min- 
isters and  one  layman  to  bear  their  fraternal  salutations  to 
the  next  session  of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church.  They  resolved  that,  in  order  to 
remove  all  obstacles  to  formal  fraternity,  "  our  college  of 
bishops  is  authorized  to  appoint  a  commission,  consisting 
of  three  ministers  and  two  laymen,  to  meet  a  -similar  com- 
mission authorized  by  the  General  Conference  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  and  to  adjust  all  existing  difficulties. " 

The  delegates  were  Lovick  Pierce,  James  A.  Duncan, 
and  L.  C.  Garland.  When  the  time  arrived.  Pierce,  in 
the  ninety-second  year  of  his  age  and  the  seventy-second 
of  his  active  ministry,  began  his  journey,  but,  on  account 
of  ill-health,  was  unable  to  reach  the  seat  of  the  confer- 
ence. He  addressed  to  the  body  a  letter  of  equal  pathos, 
frankness,  and  pertinency. 

After  the  reading  of  his  letter  the  Rev.  James  A.  Dun- 
can, D.D.,  president  of  Randolpli  Macon  College,  Virginia, 
was  introduced,  and  never  in  the  history  of  American 
Methodism  was  an  impression  more  delightful  and  pro- 
found made  by  a  single  paragraph  than  by  his  exordium, 
which  was  delivered  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  traditions 
of  Cicero : 

"Mr.  President  and  Brethren:  As  I  stand  in 
your  presence  to-day,  a  solemn  joy  in  my  heart  takes 
precedence  of  all  other  emotions.  The  responsibility  of 
my  mission  and  of  this  hour  is  solemn,  but  its  hope  is  an 


546  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxi. 

inspiration  of  joy.  Around  me  I  behold  the  venerable 
and  distinguished  representatives  of  a  great  church  ;  be- 
yond them  are  millions  of  Methodists  in  America  and 
Europe  who  feel  deeply  concerned  in  the  issues  of  this 
hour;  beyond  them,  in  still  more  distant  circles,  stand  a 
great  cloud  of  witnesses,  composed  of  all  who  care  for  the 
peace,  the  unity,  and  the  prosperity  of  the  kingdom  of 
our  Lord  Jesus;  and,  above  us  is  the  'general  assembly 
and  church  of  the  first-born,  who  are  written  in  heaven,' 
and  among  them,  high  seated  in  their  own  radiant  places, 
are  our  sainted  fathers ;  and  above  all,  upon  that  eternal 
throne  before  which  we  all  reverently  worship,  reigns  '  the 
God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of  whom  the 
whole  family  in  heaven  and  earth  is  named.'  In  such 
solemn  presence,  where  all  dissensions  seem  profanities, 
where  all  temporal  and  sectional  distinctions  disappear, 
and  there  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  neither  bond  nor  free, 
neither  male  nor  female,  but  all  are  one  in  Christ  Jesus, 
through  whom  all  have  access  by  one  Spirit  unto  the 
Father,  and  '  are  no  more  strangers  and  foreigners,  but 
fellow-citizens  with  the  saints,  and  of  the  household  of 
God,'  as  a  humble  citizen  of  that  kingdom  and  member  of 
that  household,  in  the  name  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  and  by  her  authority  as  a  fraternal  mes- 
senger, with  brotherly  kindness  in  my  heart  and  words  of 
peace  upon  my  lips,  I  salute  you  this  day  as  brethren  of 
Christ  Jesus,  our  Lord." 

The  address  of  Dr.  Garland  was  in  not  unpleasing  con- 
trast to  that  of  his  eloquent  colleague,  being  a  fine  speci- 
men of  straightforward  statement,  containing  sentences 
worthy  of  any  setting,  of  which,  taking  the  historical  facts 
into  the  account,  the  following  seems  the  most  com- 
prehensive :   "  Politics  appear   to   me  a  centrifugal  force, 


THE    CAPE   MAY  COMMISS/OX.  547 

tending  continually  to  engender  sectional  strife  and  to  the 
fending  aswnder  of  the  bonds  of  civil  society  ;  and  where 
shall  we  find  a  force  to  antagonize  it,  a  centripetal  force 
to  draw  together  and  cement  in  one  the  disunited  parts, 
if  not  in  the  grand  unity  of  a  common  Christian  faith? 
We  do  therefore  sincerely  desire  the  restoration  of  good 
feeling  between  the  two  churches  upon  a  basis  derogatory 
to  the  honor  of  neither." 

During  the  session  of  this  conference  George  Peck  died. 
He  had  been  a  minister  seventy  years,  a  member  of  thir- 
teen General  Conferences,  had  been  editor  of  the  "  Meth- 
odist Quarterly  Review  "  and  of  the  "  Christian  Advocate 
and  Journal." 

Charles  H.  Fowler  succeeded  Daniel  Curry  as  editor  of 
the  "  Christian  Advocate."  Orris  H.  Warren,  who  had 
been  assistant  editor  and  in  charge  from  the  death  of 
Lore,  was  elected  editor  of  the  Northern,  and  Erasmus  Q. 
Fuller  took  the  place  of  Cobleigh  as  editor  of  the  "  Meth- 
odist Advocate."  Daniel  Curry  succeeded  Wentworth  as 
editor  of  the  "  Ladies'  Repository,"  Alfred  Wheeler,  Hun- 
ter as  editor  of  the  Pittsburg,  and  John  H.  Acton,  Dillon 
in  the  "Pacific  Christian  Advocate." 

The  commissioners  appointed  by  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  were  Edward  H.  Myers,  Robert  K. 
Hargrove,  Thomas  M.  Finney,  David  Clopton,  and  Robert 
B.  Vance.  The  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  appointed  to  meet  them  Morris  D'C. 
Crawford,  Enoch  L.  Fancher,  Erasmus  Q.  Fuller,  Clinton 
B.  Fisk,  and  John  P.  Newman.  The  commissioners  con- 
vened at  Cape  May,  N.  J.,  August  16,  1876,  and  continued 
in  session  seven  days.  As  they  included  not  only  those 
known  as  conservative  men,  but  some  who  had  been  re- 
garded as  extremists,  it  is  remarkable  that  they  could  agree 
upon  the  following  declaration  and  basis  of  fraternity  ; 


548  TJI1-.  MiynioDisrs.  [Ch.u'.  x.m. 

"  As  to  the  status  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Cluircli 
and  of  the  Methodist  l"Li)iscopal  Cliurch,  South,  and  their 
coordinate  relation  as  les^itimate  branches  of  I'^piscopal 
Methodism,  each  of  said  churches  is  a  le^t^itimate  branch  of 
I^piscopal  Methodism  in  the  United  States,  having  a  com- 
mon origin  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  organized 
in  1784;  and  since  the  organization  of  the  Methodist 
l{!piscopal  Church,  South,  was  consummated  in  1845  ^y 
the  voluntary  exercise  of  the  right  of  the  Southern  Annual 
Conferences,  ministers,  and  members  to  adhere  to  that 
communion,  it  has  been  an  evangelical  church  reared  on 
Scriptural  foundations,  and  her  ministers  and  members, 
with  those  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  have  con- 
stituted one  Methodist  family,  though  in  distinct  ecclesias- 
tical connections." 

They  laid  down  rules  for  determining  disputed  ques- 
tions. Their  conclusions  were  embodied  in  an  address  to 
the  bishops,  ministers,  and  members  of  the  two  churches. 

R.  Nelson,  the  senior  book-agent  at  New  York,  died 
February  20,  1879,  and  Sanford  Hunt  was  elected  to  fill 
the  vacancy. 

Bishop  Ames  died  in  Baltimore  in  April,  1879.  Until 
his  health  failed  some  years  before  his  death,  his  influence 
was  cumulative.  Shrewdness  and  breadth  characterized 
him  ;  his  wit  was  somewhat  caustic,  but  ne\er  malicious. 
Ordinarily,  as  a  preacher,  he  employed  the  conversational 
style  and  was  interesting  and  instructi\-e,  but,  when  fully 
roused,  few,  even  among  the  greatest  orators,  were  more 
efTective. 

Bishop  Gilbert  Ha\-en  was  the  next  incumbent  of  the 
episcopal  office  to  finish  his  course.  No  personality  more 
strongly  marked  has  been  intrusted  with  the  conser\'ati\'e 
functions  of  the  episcopacy.  By  some  it  was  doubted 
whether  one  constitutionally  so  radical,  \ersatilc,  and  out- 


PILLARS  FALLING.  549 

spoken  could  restrain  himself  within  the  conventional 
boundaries  of  the  sphere  to  v/hich  he  was  introduced ;  but 
his  administration  gratified  his  admirers  and  reconciled 
those  disposed  to  criticise  the  election.  In  the  discharge 
of  his  duty  he  visited  Africa,  and  was  supposed  to  have 
contracted  there  the  germs  of  the  disease  which,  after  he  had 
long  suffered,  terminated  his  life.  The  circumstances  at- 
tending his  death  revealed  him  in  a  new  light  to  the  church, 
though  not  to  his  intimate  friends,  who  believed  that  he 
would  die  as  he  had  lived,  a  true,  spontaneous,  Christian 
genius. 

Another  early  death  was  that  of  R.  L.  Dashiell,  corre- 
sponding missionary  secretary.  He  liad  been  successful 
as  a  minister,  especially  in  the  conversion  of  men  of  intel- 
lectual superiority  and  public  position,  popular  as  president 
of  Dickinson  College,  and  preeminently  adapted  to  kindle 
and  maintain  an  interest  in  the  cause  of  missions. 

A  few  weeks  after  the  General  Conference,  Bishop  Janes 
was  seized  with  his  last  illness.  His  abilities  and  character 
through  his  zeal  and  industry  were  incorporated  with  the 
spirit,  the  institutions,  and  the  history  of  the  church  of 
which  he  was  a  bishop  for  thirty-two  years. 

When  the  General  Conference  of  1880  came  together 
in  Cincinnati,  a  pleasant  sensation  was  produced  as  the 
highly  educated  native  Hindu,  Baboo  Ram  Chandra  Bose, 
attired  in  the  picturesque  costume  of  his  people,  took  his 
seat  as  a  lay  delegate.  The  grammatical  precision  and 
pronunciation  of  his  English  surprised  and  delighted  his 
fellow-delegates. 

The  arrangements  begun  in  1876  for  the  holding  of  an 
Ecumenical  Conference  were  perfected.  The  committee 
of  conference  with  other  Methodist  bodies  reported  that 
all  had  pledged  their  churches  to  a  hearty  cooperation,  and 
presented  a  plan,  which  was  adopted. 


550  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxi. 

The  ecclesiastical  code  was  revised,  important  ques- 
tions were  adjudicated,  and  the  action  of  previous  confer- 
ences on  the  licensing  and  ordaining  of  women  was  re- 
viewed under  appeals,  and  confirmed. 

Henry  W.  Warren,  Cyrus  D.  Foss,  John  F.  Hurst,  and 
Erastus  O.  Haven  were  elected  bishops. 

Warren  is  a  native  of  Massachusetts  ;  his  natal  day  is  Jan- 
uary 4,  1 83 1.  An  alumnus  of  Wilbraham  Academy  and  of 
Wesleyan  University,  he  entered  the  ministry  in  1 848,  taught 
natural  science  in  Amenia,  N.  Y.,  and  ancient  languages  at 
Wilbraham,  joined  the  New  England  Conference  in  1 855, 
preaching  sixteen  years  in  its  most  important  pulpits;  he 
was  pastor  of  Arch  Street  Church,  Philadelphia,  two  terms  of 
three  years  each,  St.  John's  Church  of  Brooklyn  three  years, 
and  he  had  been  pastor  of  Spring  Garden  Street  Church, 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  three  months  when  elected  bishop. 

Foss,  born  in  New  York,  January  i  7,  1834,  is  analumnusof 
Wesleyan  University,  and  he  entered  the  ministry  in  1857. 
after  having  been  professor  and  later  principal  in  Amenia 
Seminary.  His  ministry  was  entirely  spent  in  the  New 
York  and  New  York  East  conferences,  during  which  he 
was  two  terms,  of  three  years  each,  pastor  of  St.  Paul's, 
New  York  City.  From  1875  until  his  election  as  bishop 
he  was  president  of  Wesleyan  University. 

Hurst  was  born  in  Maryland,  August  17,  1834,  and 
was  graduated  from  Dickinson  College  in  1854.  He 
studied  abroad,  and  entered  the  New  York  Conference 
as  a  minister  in  1858;  after  eight  years  of  service  he  was 
transferred  to  the  Germany  and  Switzerland  Conference, 
where  he  was  professor  in  the  mission  institutes  at  Bremen 
and  Frankfort  for  five  years.  In  1871  he  became  professor 
of  church  history  in  Drew  Theological  Seminary.  He 
was  already  known  as  an  author,  particularly  by  his  "  His- 
tory of  Rationalism  :  Embracing  a  Survey  of  the  Present 


RETIREMENT  OF  HITCHCOCK.  551 

State  of  Protestant  Theology,"  by  translations  of  Van 
Oosterzee's  lectures  on  St.  John's  Gospel,  Hagenbach's 
"  History  of  the  Church  in  the  Eighteenth  and  Nineteenth 
Centuries,"  and  of  the  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Romans  in 
Lange's  Commentary.  He  became  president  of  Drew 
Seminary  in  1873,  ^^id  filled  that  position  until  his  election 
as  bishop. 

Haven  was  born  in  Boston,  Mass.,  November  i,  1820. 
He  was  an  alumnus  of  Wesleyan  University,  and  was  for 
some  years  president  of  Amenia  Seminary.  He  entered 
the  ministry,  filling  important  positions  in  New  York  State. 
In  1853  he  became  professor  of  Latin  in  the  University  of 
Michigan;  in  1856  he  was  chosen  editor  of  "Zion's  Herald," 
and  filled  that  position  for  seven  years,  during  which  he  was 
made  an  overseer  of  Harvard  University,  elected  a  member 
of  the  State  Senate  and  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Edu- 
cation. From  1863  to  1869  he  was  president  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan,  and  from  1869  to  1872  of  the  North- 
western University.  The  Conference  of  1872  elected  him 
secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education,  and  in  1874  he  was 
called  to  the  chancellorship  of  the  new  University  of  Syra- 
cuse, where  he  remained  until  made  bishop. 

Hunt  was  elected  book-agent  at  New  York.  Hitchcock, 
after  long  and  faithful  service,  retired  to  the  reward  of 
universal  love  and  reverence,  and  William  P.  Stowe  was 
chosen  to  fill  his  place  as  agent  at  Cincinnati.  Fowler 
was  elected  a  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Missionary 
Society,  and  James  M.  Buckley  succeeded  him  as  editor 
of  the  "  Christian  Advocate."  Joseph  C.  Hartzell  was 
elected  editor  of  the  "  Southwestern  Christian  Advocate," 
established  at  New  Orleans,  and  Daniel  P.  Kidder  corre- 
sponding secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education. 

The  Ecumenical  Conference,  a  most  important  inter- 
denominational event  and  the  first  reunion  of  the  scattered 


552  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxi. 

branches  of  Methodism,  assembled  in  City  Road,  London, 
Wednesday,  September  7,  i88i.  It  was  divided  into  two 
sections : 

Eastern. 

Wcslcyan  Methodist, 

Irish  Methodist, 

Methodist  New  Connection, 

Primitive  Methodist, 

Bible  Cliristian, 

United  Methodist  Free  Churches, 

Wesleyan  Reform  Union, 

United  Free  Gospel  Churches, 

French  Methodist, 

Australian  Methodist  Church. 

We s  term. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
Methodist  Protestant  Church, 
Evangelical  Association, 
United  Brethren, 
American  Wesleyan  Church, 
Free  Methodist  Church, 

Primitive  Methodist  Church  in  the  United  States, 
Independent  Methodist, 
Congregational  Methodist, 
African  Methodist  Episcopal, 
•  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion, 

Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  America, 

Methodist  Cliurch  of  Canada, 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Canada, 

Primitive  Metliodist  Church  of  Canada, 

Canadian  Bil>le  Christians, 

British  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Canada. 

It  was  estimated  that  these  bodies  included  nearly  six 
million  communicants,  and  that  it  would  be  safe  to  multiply 
the  number  of  members  by  four  to  ascertain  the  number 
of  adherents ;  by  this  means  it  was  assumed  that  the  con- 
ference represented  a  population  of  twenty-four  millions. 
The  multiplier  is  too  high;   three  is  the  highest  that  can 


FIRST  ECUMENICAL    CONFERENCE.  553 

safely  be  used.  This,  however,  would  represent  nearly 
twenty  millions  of  people  directly  or  indirectly  connected 
with  the  movement  begun  by  John  Wesley  in  1739. 

The  conference  was  without  legislative  authority,  and  dis- 
cussed Methodism,  its  history  and  results,  its  evangelical 
agencies,  its  perils,  and  its  relation  to  the  young.  Under  each 
of  these  heads  specific  topics  were  treated.  On  the  broader 
field  of  universal  Christianity  it  considered  education,  the 
use  of  the  press,  home  and  foreign  missions,  and  Christian 
unity.  Its  effects  upon  the  unity  of  Methodism  in  the 
United  States  were  excellent.  The  best  statement  of  this 
fact  was  made  by  the  revered  William  Arthur:  "People 
think  that  nothing  particularly  practical  is  being  done 
in  this  Ecumenical  Conference.  They  are  only  in  the 
engine-house,  where  there  is  not  a  spool  being  .'^pun,  not  a 
web  being  woven,  and  not  a  tissue  being  dyed.  There  is 
nothing  be'ng  done  but  generating  power,  and  therefore 
there  is  nothing  practical  being  done.  Sir,  below  the  sky  the 
two  most  practical  things  are  human  thought  and  human 
feeling,  and  what  you  have  been  doing  here  is  making 
large  thoughts  and  holy  feelings;  and  what  is  practically 
being  done  is  that  here  the  large  man  is  becoming  larger 
and  the  small  man  is  becoming  less  small;  that  here  the 
broad  man  is  becoming  broader  and  the  narrow  man  less 
narrow." 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

STABILITY    AMID    CHANGE    AND    CONTROVERSY. 

The  death  of  Scott,  the  first  bishop  who  was  the  son  of  a 
Methodist  preacher,  took  place  on  the  13th  of  July,  1882. 
He  was  a  minister  eighteen  years  before  the  great  division, 
and  to  the  last  prayed  for  and  promoted  fraternity  and 
unity. 

The  "Methodist,"  founded  twenty-two  years  before, had 
been  helpful  in  various  reforms  and  to  the  church  at  large, 
had  stimulated  the  journals  owned  by  the  denomination, 
and  also  tended  to  check  the  manifestation  of  a  tyrannical 
spirit  in  their  management.  But  the  reforms  which  it  ad- 
vocated having  been  efifected,  and  the  "  Christian  Adx'O- 
cate  "  being  conducted  as  a  free  forum  for  the  discussion 
of  all  questions  affecting  Methodism,  the  circulation  of  the 
"  Methodist  "  greatly  declined,  and  its  owners  offered  to 
sell  its  title,  good  will,  and  assets  to  the  Book  Concern. 
Accordingly  it  was  purchased  by  the  agents  at  New  York, 
and  ceased  to  exist  in  October,  1882. 

Bishop  Peck,  whose  ser\ices  give  him  a  sure  place  in 
the  history  of  Methodism,  died  in  Syracuse  in  May,  1883. 
Endowed  with  the  oratoric  temperament,  in  early  and 
middle  life  he  was  famous  as  a  preacher  and  platform 
speaker  and  was  also  known  as  an  author. 

The  Rev.  E.  H.  Gammon,  a  native  of  Maine,  a  super- 
annuated minister,  who  retired  early  because  of  a  malady 

554 


GAMMON   THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY  ENDOWED.    555 

of  the  throat  which  did  not  interfere  with  his  intellectual 
and  physical  energy,  and  who  accumulated  a  large  fortune, 
began  in  1883  to  give  liberally  to  the  establishment  of  a 
theological  institute,  organized  under  the  charter  of  the 
Clark  University  at  Atlanta,  though  independent  in  gov- 
ernment. It  was  designed  to  prepare  young  men  of  Afri- 
can descent  for  the  Methodist  ministry.  Subsequently  he 
made  the  institution  residuary  legatee,  and,  established 
upon  a  firm  basis,  it  has  already  become  a  factor  of  un- 
equaled  importance  in  the  intellectual  and  moral  develop- 
ment of  the  race  for  whose  benefit  it  is  designed,  and  through 
it  he  has  contributed  much  to  the  progress  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church. 

,  The  General  Conference  of  1884  assembled  in  Philadel- 
phia, and  comprised  a  membership  of  four  hundred  and 
seventeen,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  were  lay- 
men. David  S.  Monroe  was  elected  secretary.  A  shadow 
rested  upon  the  hearts  of  the  members  because  of  the 
feeble  condition  of  the  senior  bishop,  Simpson.  The  con- 
ference gave  attention  to  routine  business,  made  no  re- 
markable changes,  strongly  reaffirmed  the  action  of  former 
conferences  upon  the  licensing  and  ordaining  of  women 
to  preach,  made  various  modifications  in  the  Discipline,  and 
introduced  a  new  section  on  divorce,  which  last  action  was 
taken  with  a  haste  altogether  out  of  proportion  to  the  im- 
portance of  the  subject. 

William  X.  Ninde,  John  M.  Walden,  WiUard  F.  Malla- 
lieu,  and  Charles  H.  Fowler  were  elected  and  consecrated 
bishops.  Ninde,  the  son  of  a  Methodist  minister,  was  born 
in  New  York,  June  21,  1832  ;  he  is  an  alumnus  of  Wesley  an 
University,  and  had  been  in  the  pastorate  from  the  time 
of  his  entrance  upon  the  ministry  until  1873,  when  he  be- 
came a  professor  of  practical  theology  in  Garrett  BibHcal 
Institute,  of  which  he  was  president  when  elected  bishop. 


556  'lUK   METJIOJ^JSTS.  [CiiAi'.  xxii. 

Walden  was  born  in  Ohio,  February  ii,  i83i,and  is  an 
alumnus  of  Farmers'  Colle<^e.  For  some  years  he  was  en- 
gaged in  journaHsm  in  Kansas;  he  became  a  member  of 
tlie  legislature,  and  was  elected  State  superintendent  of 
public  instruction.  He  entered  the  Cincinnati  Conference 
in  1S5S,  and  after  filling  positions  as  })astor,  city  mission- 
ary, presiding  elder,  and  secretary  of  the  Freedmen's  Aid 
Society,  became,  in  1868,  book-agent  at  Cincinnati,  which 
office  he  occupied  at  the  time  of  his  election  to  the  epis- 
copacy. 

Mallalieu  was  born  in  Massachusetts,  December  11, 
1828,  of  blended  Puritan  and  Huguenot  ancestry.  An 
alumnus  of  Wesleyan  University,  he  entered  the  ministry 
in  1858,  and  was  distinguished  for  eloquence  and  efficiency 
in  the  pastorate,  to  which  he  gave  his  entire  time  until 
within  two  years  of  his  election  as  bishop,  when  he  was 
appointed  presiding  elder  of  the  Boston  district. 

Fowler  was  born  in  Canada,  August  11,  1837.  He 
was  graduated  from  Genesee  College  in  1859,  began  the 
study  of  law,  but  turned  to  the  ministry  and  was  gradu- 
ated from  the  Garrett  Biblical  Institute;  spent  four  pas- 
toral terms  in  Chicago;  in  1872  became  president  of  the 
Northwestern  University;  in  1876  was  elected  editor  of 
the  "  Christian  Advocate,"  ami  in  1880  one  of  the  corre- 
sponding secretaries  of  the  Missionary  Societ}',  in  all  of 
which  positions  he  displayed  uncommon  abilities.  He  is 
the  first  grandson  of  a  Methodist  minister  to  be  chosen 
bishop,  his  mother's  father  being  Henry  R\-an,  a  pioneer 
preacher,  and  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  history  of  Cana- 
dian Methodism. 

It  was  decided  to  elect  a  missionary  bishop  for  Africa. 
Various  persons  were  nominated,  most  of  whom  withdrew, 
and  on  the  final  vote  William  Tajdor  recei\^ed  two  hundred 
and  fifty  of  the  three  hundretl  and  fifty-three  ballots  cast. 


MISSIONARY  BISHOP  FOR   AFRICA    ELECTED.       557 

He  was  born  May  2,  1821,  in  Rockbridge,  Va. ;  entered 
the  13altimore  Conference  in  1843,  having  traveled  a  cir- 
cuit one  year.  At  the  age  of  twenty-eight  he  went  as  a 
missionary  to  CaHfornia,  and  after  seven  years  of  hardship 
and  successes  engaged  in  evangelistic  work  principally  in 
the  Eastern  States  and  Canada.  He  left  America  for 
Australia  in  1862,  spending  several  months  in  England 
and  Ireland,  and  visiting  Palestine  en  route.  For  two 
years  and  eight  months  he  worked  in  Australia,  Tasma- 
nia, and  Ceylon,  accomplishing  results  which  in  perma- 
nence have  never  been  equaled  on  so  large  a  scale.  Sim- 
ilar success  attended  him  on  a  second  visit.  Thence  he 
went  to  Africa,  singing  and  preaching  in  Cape  Colony, 
KafFraria,  and  Natal,  making  many  converts  among  the 
colonists  and  natives.  He  visited  England,  laboring  for 
eleven  months  in  sixteen  different  London  chapels.  He 
went  to  Ceylon  and  India  in  1870,  working  undenomina- 
tionally. 

In  187 1  he  began  a  separate  work,  based  upon  a  self- 
supporting  principle,  namely,  that  missionaries  should  be 
supported  wholly  by  the  contributions  received  from  their 
converts  and  the  communities  in  which  they  labored.  If 
these  were  not  adequate  they  were  to  maintain  themselves, 
as  did  Paul,  by  the  labor  of  their  hands;  hence  this  was 
spoken  of  as  the  Pauline  method.  In  this  work  his  success 
was  so  great  as  to  require  the  formation  of  the  South  India 
Conference. 

After  some  years  he  came  to  the  United  States  and 
secured  means  to  send  additional  missionaries  to  India. 
He  visited  South  America,  principally  Chile  and  Peru, 
in  1878,  and  there  began  a  self-supporting  work.  That 
he  might  pursue  his  e\'angelistic  plans  untrammeled  by 
the  superintendence  of  others  or  by  local  responsibilities, 
he  had  located,  and  thus,  though  an  ordained  minister,  in 


558  THE  METHODISTS.  [Ciiai'.  xxii. 

respect  to  membership  in  the  General  Conference  he  was 
a  layman,  and  appeared  in  Philadelphia  as  a  lay  represent- 
ative from  the  South  India  Conference.  To  this  man, 
who  considers  the  world  his  parish  in  a  broader  sense  geo- 
graphically than  even  Wesley  illustrated,  was  committed 
the  function  of  ambassador  plenipotentiary  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church  to  the  Dark  Continent. 

Earl  Cranston  succeeded  Walden  as  book-agent,  and 
Daniel  Curry,  Daniel  Denison  Whedon  as  editor  of  the 
"Quarterly  Review." 

At  this  timeWhedon  was  seventy-six  years  of  age  ;  though 
his  mental  force  was  unabated,  his  physical  condition  was 
such  as  to  make  it  inadvisable  to  reelect  him  for  another 
term.  He  survived  little  more  than  a  year,  dying  June  8, 
1885.  In  addition  to  long  service  as  an  educator,  he  was 
for  seven  consecutive  General  Conferences  chosen  editor 
of  the  "  Methodist  Quarterly  Review,"  projected  and  edited 
a  commentary  which  has  become  a  standard  in  the  denom- 
ination, and  produced  a  treatise  on  "The  Freedom  of  the 
Will,"  intended  to  be  an  answer  to  the  essay  of  Jonathan 
Edwards  on  the  same  subject. 

Jeremiah  H.  Bayliss,  until  that  time  pastor,  succeeded 
Hoyt  as  editor  of  the  Western,  Charles  W.  Smith  was 
substituted  for  Wheeler  in  the  Pittsburg,  and  Marshall  W. 
Taylor  for  Hartzell  in  the  "  Southwestern  Christian  Advo- 
cate." Charles  C.  McCabe  was  elected  one  of  the  corre- 
sponding secretaries  of  the  Missionary  Society. 

The  conference  adjourned  on  the  28th  of  May.  Bishop 
Simpson  died  at  his  residence  in  Philadelphia  on  the  i8th 
of  June  following.  As  preacher,  professor,  college  presi- 
dent, and  editor,  he  attained  eminence.  In  eloquence  and 
personal  influence  he  has  had  no  peer  among  the  bishops 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  within  the  memory  of 
men  now  living. 


CEXTENNIAL    OF  AMERICAN  METHODISM.  559 

Bishop  Wiley,  who  had  been  a  missionary  in  China,  died 
while  hoIdingtheFoo-chovv  Conference,  November  22, 1884. 
Like  Simpson  and  Thomson,  he  was  a  graduate  and  a 
practitioner  in  medicine.  His  most  marked  characteristics 
were  lucidity,  self-restraint,  prudence;  in  knowing  when 
to  speak  and  when  to  be  silent  in  order  to  influence  his 
brethren  in  the  general  committees  of  the  church,  he  had 
nothing  left  to  learn.  He  died  and  was  entombed  where 
he  had  begun  his  work  as  a  medical  missionary  thirty-three 
years  before. 

The  first  hundred  years  of  organized  American  Metho- 
dism terminated  in  December,  1884.  In  view  of  this  fact, 
in  1878  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  South,  in  Atlanta,  Ga.,  proposed  its  general 
celebration  by  the  Methodists  of  the  United  States,  the 
Dominion  of  Canada,  and  other  parts  of  tlie  continent  of 
America,  and  instructed  its  bishops  to  open  a  correspond- 
ence on  this  subject  with  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  the  presidents  of  the  several  Canada 
conferences,  and  all  other  Methodist  bodies  in  America. 

At  the  Ecumenical  Conference  in  London,  John  M. 
Walden,  a  delegate  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
drew  up  and  circulated  the  following  paper  among  the 
American  delegates,  to  which  eighty-one  names  were  sub- 
scribed, representing  seven  of  the  denominations : 

"  The  undersigned  delegates  from  Methodist  churches 
in  America  to  the  Ecumenical  Methodist  Conference  join 
in  commending  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  our  re- 
spective churches  the  holding  of  a  commemorative  cen- 
tennial meeting  in  1884,  to  be  composed  of  representatives 
(clerical  and  lay)  from  all  Methodist  bodies  in  America." 

Subsequent  action  was  taken  by  the  different  churches, 
and  a  joint  committee  determined  that  the  conference 
should  consist  of  clerical  and  lay  delegates  in  the'proportion 


56o  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chaf.  xxii. 

of  two  to  fifteen  thousand  members  and  probationers,  on 
the  basis  of  the  latest  official  reports,  no  denomination  to 
have  less  than  two,  of  whom  one  should  be  clerical  and 
one  lay,  it  being  provided  that  for  fractions  of  more  than 
one  half  of  fifteen  thousand  an  additional  delegate  might 
be  appointed,  each  church  to  adopt  such  mode  of  appoint- 
ment as  it  might  deem  best. 

The  Centennial  Conference  assembled  according  to  the 
plan  and  remained  in  session  seven  days.  Seven  bishops, 
one  hundred  and  thirty-two  ministers,  and  sixty  laymen  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  ;  three  bishops,  sixty-three 
ministers,  and  twenty-three  laymen  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South ;  five  bishops,  thirty-two  ministers, 
and  thirteen  laymen  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  ;  two  bishops,  seven  ministers,  and  five  laymen  of 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church ;  three 
bishops  and  seven  ministers  of  the  Colored  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  of  America;  one  minister  and  one  lay- 
man of  the  Primitive  Methodist  Church ;  two  ministers 
of  tlie  Methodist  Church  of  Canada;  and  one  minister 
and  f^wQ  layman  of  an  Independent  Methodist  Church,  were 
present  as  delegates.  Two  ministers  and  tw^o  laymen  repre- 
sented the  Methodist  Protestant  Church,  and  one  minister 
the  Bible  Christian  Church,  as  fraternal  delegates.  The 
subjects  treated  were:  The  Work  and  Personnel  of  the 
Conference  which  organized  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  known  as  "the  Christmas  Conference."  The  Su- 
perintendency  of  Asbury,  The  Relations  of  John  Wesley 
to  American  Methodism,  The  Statistical  Results,  A  Com- 
parison of  Methodism  in  1784  and  in  1884,  The  Causes 
of  the  Success  of  Methodism,  and  the  Possible  Dangers  to 
Methodism  in  the  P\iture,  The  Rise  and  Progress  of  Meth- 
odism in  Canada,  The  Work  and  Character  of  Methodist 
Pioneers,  The  Power  of  Methodism  over  the  Masses,  Its 


COMPREHENSIVE  PROGRAM.  56 1 

Means  of  Grace,  The  Aim  and  Character  of  Methodist 
Preaching  and  its  Doctrinal  Unity,  Guards  to  the  Purity 
of  its  Doctrinal  Teaching,  The  Essential  Points  of  Chris- 
tian Experience,  The  Value  of  the  Press,  General  and  Peri- 
odical, to  Methodism,  The  Place  and  Power  of  the  Lay 
ELlement,  What  Methodism  Owes  to  Woman,  and  Its  In- 
fluence on  Other  Denominations.  The  evenings  were 
devoted  to  addresses  upon  Missions,  Education,  Sunday- 
schools,  and  The  Mission  of  Methodism  to  the  Extremes  of 
Society.  The  proceedings  were  published  in  a  volume 
edited  by  H.  K.  Carroll  (author  of  "The  Rehgious  Forces 
of  the  United  States  "),  the  Rev.  W.  P.  Harrison,  and  the 
Rev.  J.  H.  Bayliss,  and  comprise  a  series  of  essays  and 
addresses  of  permanent  value. 

Daniel  Curry,  editor  of  the  "  Christian  Advocate  "  for 
twelve  years  and  also  of  the  "  National  Repository,"  and 
during  the  last  three  years  of  his  life  editor  of  the  "  Quar- 
terly Review,"  died  on  the  17th  of  August,  1887.  He  was 
born  on  the  26th  of  November,  1809,  which  year  was  noted 
in  different  parts  of  the  world  and  in  dissimilar  spheres  for 
the  birth  of  extraordinary  men,  among  them  William  E. 
Gladstone,  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 
Not  one  of  them  all  possessed  more  rugged  strength  of  in- 
tellect or  tenacity  of  will  than  this  man  of  Scotch-Irish  de- 
scent. He  graduated  rather  late  in  life  from  Wesleyan 
University,  soon  became  professor  in  the  female  college  at 
Macon,  Ga.,  and  there,  two  years  later,  entered  the  min- 
istry. Being  a  radical  abolitionist,  he  returned  to  the  North 
when  the  church  divided.  He  was  at  one  time  president 
of  the  Indiana  Asbury  University  and  was  a  member  of 
eight  General  Conferences. 

William  L.  Harris,  secretary  of  the  board  of  bishops  and 
resident  bishop  of  New  York,  died  in  that  city  September 
2,  1887.  Had  he  survived  until  the  4th  of  the  following 
• 


562  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxii. 

November  he  would  have  completed  threescore  years  and 
ten.  lie  was  five  times  secretary  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence, and  possessed  many  of  the  characteristics  of  a  states- 
man, being  a  master  of  parliamentary  and  ecclesiastical  law  ; 
with  Judge  McHenry  he  prepared  an  elaborate  work  upon 
the  rules  of  evidence  and  kindred  subjects,  and  was  the 
author  of  various  pamphlets  and  volumes  upon  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He  left  the 
stamp  of  his  personality  ineffaceably  upon  the  jurispru- 
dence and  the  administrative  and  legislative  departments 
of  the  church. 

Among  the  most  remarkable  of  the  men  whose  memoirs 
were  read  to  the  General  Conference  of  1888  was  Marshall 
W.  Taylor,  who  was  of  Scotch- Irish- Indian  descent  on  the 
paternal  side,  and  of  African  and  Arabian  on  the  mater- 
nal. His  grandmother  was  brought  to  this  country  when 
a  child  from  Madagascar.  His  parents  were  slaves,  but  his 
mother  was  given  her  freedom  by  the  will  of  her  master  at 
his  death,  and  his  father  had  purchased  his  before  this  son 
was  born.  He  possessed  fine  powers  as  a  pulpit  orator, 
was  a  ready  debater  and  a  wise  presiding  elder.  He  en- 
tered upon  the  editorship  of  the  "  Southwestern  Christian 
Advocate  "  in  a  time  of  controversy,  but  died  "  before  the 
great  questions  which  involved  the  fitness  of  his  race  for 
positions  of  trust,  honor,  and  responsibility  in  the  church 
which  he  loved  were  settled  beyond  dispute." 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  bereaved  of  two 
of  its  most  devoted  and  useful  laymen  on  Thursday,  May 
5,  1887 — Oliver  Hoyt  and  Washington  C.  De  Pauw. 

Mr.  Hoyt  was  descended  from  New  England  yeomanry. 
He  was  converted  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  and  accumulated  a 
large  fortune  early  in  life  by  industry,  judgment,  and  a  char- 
acter which  inspired  confidence  ;  but  from  his  first  savings 
until  the  end  he  gave  liberally.    In  the  local  church  he  was 


TYPICAL   LAY  riLILANTHROPISTS.  563 

active,  and  for  thirty  years  was  superintendent  in  the 
Sunday-school  of  the  church  in  Stamford,  Conn.,  of  which 
in  his  boyhood  he  was  a  pupil.  He  considered  himself  a 
part  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  studied  its  situ- 
ation, was  intimately  connected  with  Abel  Stevens,  its 
historian,  and  was  one  of  the  earliest  advocates  of  the 
formal  introduction  of  the  laity  into  a  constitutional  share 
of  the  responsibilities  of  the  church.  He  sat  as  a  lay  rep- 
resentative in  three  General  Conferences,  and  was  a  devoted 
friend  to  the  missionary  cause,  one  of  the  vice-presidents 
of  its  board  of  managers,  treasurer  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation, trustee  and  treasurer  of  Wesle3^an  University,  and 
one  of  the  managers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Hospital 
and  of  the  American  Bible  Society.  In  dying  he  remem- 
bered the  objects  of  his  beneficence  while  living,  bequeath- 
ing large  sums  to  Wesleyan  University,  the  Missionary  So- 
ciety, the  Bible  Society,  to  the  New  York  and  New  York 
East  conferences  for  the  relief  of  worn-out  ministers,  to 
Cornell  College,  Iowa,  and  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Hospital  of  Brooklyn. 

Mr.  De  Pauw  was  born  in  Salem,  Ind.  He  was  early 
thrown  on  his  own  resources,  but  was  so  industrious  that 
he  worked  without  pay  rather  than  be  idle.  His  business 
career  was  thoroughly  successful.  He  was  a  class-leader, 
steward,  and  trustee.  He  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  doc- 
trine of  Christian  holiness  as  taught  by  Wesley,  a  modest 
but  confident  professor  of  its  experience,  and  for  many 
years  a  member  of  an  association  for  its  promotion.  As 
his  fortune  increased  he  regarded  himself  more  and  more 
as  a  steward  of  God,  and  handsomely  endowed  a  female 
college  which  had  previously  been  so  embarrassed  as  to  sus- 
pend, and  he  gave  large  sums  to  the  Indiana  Asbury  Uni- 
versity, which  he  also  made  residuary  legatee.  In  his  honor 
the  trustees  of  both  these  institutions  changed  the  names 


564  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxii. 

thereof.  Professor  Curtiss  ^  states  that  Mr.  De  Paiiw  op- 
posed to  the  hist  changing  the  name  of  Indiana  Asbury 
to  De  Pauvv  University. 

The  Conference  of  1888  convened  in  the  Metropohtan 
Opera-house  in  the  city  of  New  York.  It  was  confronted 
by  a  dehcate  problem.  P^ive  women  had  been  elected  lay 
delegates  by  as  many  lay  electoral  conferences — Frances 
E.  WiUard  from  the  Rock  River,  Angle  F.  Newman  from 
the  Nebraska,  Mary  C.  Nind  from  the  Minnesota,  Amanda 
C.  Rippey  from  the  Kansas,  and  Lizzie  D.  Van  Kirk  from 
the  Pittsburg.      The  last-named  did  not  claim  a  seat. 

A  protest,  signed  by  ministers  and  laymen,  against  their 
being  seated  had  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  bishops. 
The  senior  bishop.  Bowman,  who  presided,  presented  to 
the  conference  a  communication  from  the  bishops  stating 
the  fact  of  the  election  of  these  women,  the  question  con- 
cerning their  legal  status,  and  the  absence  of  precedents. 
They  held  that  neither  the  secretary  nor  the  bishops  could 
decide  a  constitutional  question,  and  proposed  that  the 
conference  be  organized  with  those  who  were  unquestion- 
ably duly  qualified  to  sit  as  members  of  the  body.  In 
pursuance  of  this  opinion,  the  chair  directed  the  secretary 
of  the  last  conference  to  call  the  roll.  The  conference 
being  organized,  those  whose  eligibility  was  disputed  were 
found  to  consist  of  two  classes :  women  and  certain  lay- 
men elected  by  conferences  within  whose  bounds  they  did 
not  reside.  These  were  John  M.  Phillips,  of  New  York, 
elected  by  the  Mexico  Conference,  and  Robert  E.  Pattison, 
of  Pennsylvania,  elected  by  the  North  India  Conference. 
The  question  of  the  eligibility  of  women  was  referred  to  a 
special  committee  on  eligibility,  and  that  of  the  non-resi- 
dent delegates  to  another  committee. 

The  report  of  the  special  committee  declared  women 
I  "  Manual  of  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  History." 


ELIGIBILITY  OF   WOMEK    TO  MEMBERSHIP.        565 

ineligible  under  the  constitution  as  it  now  is,  and  the  seats 
claimed  by  women  to  be  vacant,  and  instructed  the  secre- 
tary to  notify  the  first  reserves.  In  the  ensuing  debate  it 
was  argued  against  the  admission  of  women  that  when  lay 
delegates  were  admitted  women  had  not  been  eligible  to 
hold  any  office  in  the  government  of  the  church  ;  not  till 
eight  years  afterward  was  the  legal  right  of  women  to  hold 
any  office  indisputably  established,  and  then  only  upon 
subjects  unquestionably  within  the  power  of  the  General 
Conference;  that,  while  the  laity  include  the  whole  body 
of  the  church  as  distinguished  from  the  clergy  and  all 
orders,  without  regard  to  sex  or  age,  the  word  "  laymen," 
with  regard  to  seats  in  the  legislative  bod}^  of  the  church, 
had  never  included  women;  and  that  in  no  debate  prior 
to  the  vote  to  change  the  constitution  so  as  to  admit  lay 
delegates  did  any  one  intimate  that  women  would  be  eli- 
gible. But  both  parties  appealed  to  women  on  the  ground 
that  they  were  disinterested  arbiters — as  they  would  not  be 
eligible  in  any  case  as  members  of  the  conference — to  vote 
as  to  whether  they  desired  lay  representation. 

In  favor  of  their  admission  it  was  maintained  that  they 
are  certainly  members  of  the  church,  and  do  not  belong 
to  the  clergy,  but  to  the  laity  ;  that  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  1872  declared  that  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  lay 
delegation  the  word  "  laymen  "  included  all  members  of  the 
church  that  are  not  members  of  Annual  Conferences  ;  that 
from  the  beginning  women  had  sat  in  the  electoral  con- 
ferences; that  it  made  no  difference  whether  women  were 
contemplated  or  not  when  the  rule  was  passed  ;  that  they 
were  duly  elected,  and  to  disallow  them  seats  would  be  to 
disfranchise  the  constituency  that  sent  them  ;  and  that  when 
the  law  is  doubtful  and  a  question  of  rights  is  involved, 
the  law  should  be  construed  broadly  in  favor  of  the  rights 
claimed. 


566  ^'//A"   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxii. 

Those  who  upheld  the  unconstitutionahty  of  the  claim 
replied  to  these  points  that  women  are  not  laymen  in  the 
sense  of  the  restrictive  rule;  that  the  vote  declaring  who 
are  laymen  related  wholly  to  the  eligibility  of  local  preach- 
ers ;  that  the  fact  that  women  had  sat  in  lay  electoral  con- 
ferences and  been  elected  reserve  delegates  settled  nothing, 
as  the  reserve  had  no  standing  unless  the  principal  de- 
faulted, therefore  the  question  had  not  been  raised  in  the 
General  Conference ;  that  that  body  could  not  destroy 
the  constitution  by  an  interpretation;  and  that  the  terms 
of  the  law  are  not  doubtful,  taken  in  connection  with  the 
existing  custom. 

To  this  was  replied  that  the  presumption  is  that  the 
General  Conference  meant  exactly  what  it  said,  and  that 
if  it  is  unconstitutional  for  a  woman  to  be  elected,  it  is 
unconstitutional  for  her  to  sit  in  lay  electoral  conferences, 
and  that,  therefore,  those  conferences  which  admitted  her 
were  illegal  and  the  results  illegal.  To  this  was  answered 
that  this  was  not  so;  that,  unless  they  were  there  in  suffi- 
cient numbers  to  make  the  result  of  actions  turn  upon 
their  votes,  it  merely  bore  the'  same  relation  to  legality 
that  it  would  bear  if  laymen  under  twenty-five  years  of 
age  were  present. 

During  the  debate  the  report  was  amended  by  a  prop- 
osition to  submit  to  the  church  the  question  of  a  change 
in  the  restrictive  rule  by  the  introduction  of  the  words, 
"  and  the  said  delegates  may  be  men  or  women." 

On  the  final  vote  the  orders  divided,  and  the  report  as 
amended  was  adopted  by  a  concurrence  of  both  orders : 
one  hundred  and  fifty-nine  ministers  voted  for  the  report, 
and  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  against ;  seventy-eight 
laymen  for,  and  seventy-six  against.  Subsequent  to  this 
action  the  first  reserves  arrived  and  took  the  seats  thus 
declared  vacant. 


PASTORAL    TERM  EXTENDED.  567 

The  committee  upon  the  non-resident  claimants  divided, 
a  majority  reporting  in  favor  of  their  admission,  and  a  mi- 
nority against  it ;  the  report  of  the  latter  was  adopted,  and  the 
seats  claimed  by  the  said  delegates  were  declared  vacant. 

This  conference  extended  the  possible  pastoral  term  to 
five  years,  with  modifications  which  admitted  of  a  pastor's 
spending  five  years  in  any  ten  in  the  same  church.  It 
also  enacted  that  a  presiding  elder  might  be  appointed  to 
the  same  district  six  years  in  succession.  The  status  of 
missionary  bishops  was  determined. 

Provision  was  made  for  the  establishment  of  the  office 
of  deaconess  in  the  church.  It  was  provided  that  no  vow 
of  celibacy  or  of  lifelong  devotion  should  be  required  ;  that 
no  one  under  twenty-five  years  of  age  should  be  admitted  ; 
that  all  should  remain  upon  probation  two  years  before 
receiving  certificates  ;  that  when  working  singly  they  were 
to  be  under  the  direction  of  the  pastor  of  a  church,  and 
when  in  a  home  they  v/ere  to  be  subordinate  to  and  under 
the  direction  of  the  superintendent  in  charge. 

For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  Methodism,  it  was 
ordered  that  it  should  require  a  majority  of  two  thirds  of 
all  the  votes  cast  to  constitute  an  election  to  the  episcopacy. 
Six  bishops  were  elected,  of  whom  five  were  general  super- 
intendents, and  one  missionary  bishop  of  India  and  Ma- 
laysia. 

John  H.  Vincent,  born  in  Tuscaloosa,  Ala.,  February  23, 
1832,  was  educated  inacademies  in  Pennsylvania.  Hebegan 
to  preach  at  eighteen,  entered  the  New  Jersey  Conference 
in  1853,  and  after  four  years  in  that  State  moved  to  Illinois, 
filling  pastorates  in  the  Rock  River  Conference  until  1865, 
when  he  became  general  agent  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Sunday-school  Union.  In  1868  he  was  elected  by  the 
General  Conference  corresponding  secretary  both  of  the 
Sunday-school  Union  and  the  Tract  Society,  and  editor  of 


568  THE  METUODISrS.  [Chap.  xxii. 

the  Sunday-school  publications  of  the  church.  He  became 
still  more  widely  known  by  his  connection  with  the  Chau- 
tauqua summer  school,  founded  by  himself  and  Lewis  Mil- 
ler, a  lay  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  of 
Akron,  O. 

James  N.  Fitzgerald  was  born  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  July  27, 
1837  ;  was  educated  as  a  lawyer,  and  practiced  that  profession 
for  a  short  time  ;  but  in  his  twenty-second  year  entered  the 
ministry  in  the  Newark  Conference,  where  he  served  seven- 
teen years  as  a  pastor  and  three  years  as  presiding  elder,  and 
in  1880  was  chosen  recording  secretary  of  the  Missionary 
Society,  a  position  which  he  filled  with  such  dignity  and 
efficiency  as  to  make  him  favorably  known  to  the  church. 

Isaac  W.  Joyce  was  born  in  Ohio,  October  ii,  1836. 
He  joined  the  Northwest  Indiana  Conference  in  1859,  and 
had  been  occupied  in  the  pastorate.  In  Cincinnati  he  was 
pastor  of  St.  Paul's  Church  two  terms,  and  also  of  Trinity 
Church.  His  marked  efficiency  as  a  pastor  and  evangelist, 
his  prudence  and  fervency,  commended  him  to  the  large 
number  who  justly  believed  that  the  pastorate  should  always 
be  represented  upon  the  board  of  bishops. 

John  P.  Newman  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
September  i,  1826.  Early  becoming  conspicuous  as  a 
preacher,  his  extensive  travels  in  Europe  and  the  East 
spread  his  fame.  When  the  federal  government  had  ob- 
tained access  to  Mississippi  and  New  Orleans,  he  was 
appointed  by  Bishop  Ames  to  reorganize  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  that  part  of  the  country.  He  went 
to  Washington  in  1869  under  appointment  to  establish  the 
Metropolitan  Church;  while  there  he  acted  as  chaplain  of 
the  Senate.  Later  he  traveled  abroad,  and  on  his  return 
was  reappointed  to  the  Metropolitan  Church.  He  was 
stationed  at  that  church  for  the  third  time  in  1886,  and 
was  its  pastor  when  elected  bishop. 


ORDINATION  OF  SIX  BISHOPS.  569 

.  Daniel  A.  Goodsell  is  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Buell  Goodsell, 
and  was  born  November  5,  1840,  at  Newburg,  N.  Y. 
Educated  at  the  New  York  University,  he  entered  the 
ministry  at  nineteen  years  of  age,  and  for  twenty-nine 
years  filled  positions  of  increasing  importance  in  the  New 
York  East  Conference.  When  elected  he  was  secretary  of 
the  Board  of  Education,  having  been  selected  to  fill  the 
vacancy  made  by  the  resignation  of  Daniel  P.  Kidder. 

James  M.  Thoburn,  born  at  St.  Clairsville,  O.,  March 
7,  1836,  was  graduated  from  Allegheny  College  in  1857, 
entered  the  Pittsburg  Conference  the  next  year,  and  went 
as  a  missionary  to  India  April  18,  1859.  In  1874  he  was 
stationed  in  Calcutta,  where  he  resided  as  pastor,  presiding 
elder,  and  editor  up  to  the  time  of  his  election.  The  church 
accepted  him  as  its  ideal  of  the  Christian  missionary,  and 
believed  him  preeminently  qualified  for  the  wide  responsi- 
bility of  superintendency  in  a  field  both  difficult  and  vast. 

John  M.  Reid,  senior  corresponding  secretary  of  the 
Missionary  Society,  retired  and  was  made  honorary  secre- 
tary. J.  O.  Peck,  a  pastor  noted  for  energy  and  success, 
and  Adna  B.  Leonard,  with  a  similar  reputation  for  effi- 
ciency in  the  pastorate  and  presiding  eldership,  were  elected 
missionary  secretaries.  J.  L.  Hurlbut  took  the  place  of 
Vincent  as  corresponding  secretary  both  of  the  Sunday- 
school  Union  and  the  Tract  Society  ;  Charles  H.  Payne,  at 
that  time  president  of  Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  was  elected 
to  succeed  Goodsell  as  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Board 
of  Education ;  James  W.  Mendenhall,  widely  known  as  a 
pastor  and  presiding  elder,  and  an  author  of  works  of  im- 
portance, especially  of  a  voluminous  treatise  entitled  "  Plato 
and  Paul,"  was  elected  editor  of  the  "  Methodist  Review  "  ; 
and  Aristides  E.  P.  Albert,  of  reputation  for  intelligence 
and  culture  among  the  delegates  of  African  descent,  was 
elected  editor  of  the  "  Southwestern  Christian  Advocate." 


570  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxii. 

John  M.  Phillips,  agent  of  the  Book  Concern  at  New 
York,  died  on  the  15th  of  January,  1889.  For  seventeen 
years  he  had  occupied  that  position  and  also  that  of  treas- 
urer of  the  Missionary  Society,  and  in  both  offices  earned 
and  received  ever-increasing  respect  and  confidence.  On 
the  1 3  th  of  the  following  month  Homer  Eaton,  of  the  Troy 
Conference,  and  chairman  of  the  General  Book  Committee, 
was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy. 

J.  H.  Bayliss,  who  had  been  editor  of  the  "  Western 
Christian  Advocate"  since  1884,  died  August  14,  1889. 
He  had  filled  pastorates  in  three  important  cities,  Chicago, 
Indianapolis,  and  Detroit,  and  in  each  took  rank  with  the 
most  influential  clergymen  of  the  city.  The  next  month 
David  H.  Moore,  pastor,  educator,  and  late  chancellor  of 
the  University  of  Denver,  was  chosen  by  the  Book  Com- 
mittee to  succeed  him. 

The  second  Methodist  Ecumenical  Conference  was  held 
at  Washington  in  October,  1891.  Five  hundred  repre- 
sentatives were  present,  and  the  assembly  sat  with  un- 
diminished interest  for  fourteen  days.  William  Arthur 
had  been  selected  to  deliver  the  opening  sermon,  but, 
though  present,  his  voice  being  inadequate  to  the  task,  it 
was  read  by  Dr.  Stephenson,  president  of  the  Wesleyan 
Conference.  Vast  audiences  attended  the  meetings  from 
early  morning  till  late  at  night. 

The  delegates  were  received  at  the  White  House  by 
President  and  Mrs.  Harrison,  and  on  the  i  7th  of  October, 
the  subject  under  consideration  being  "  International  Ar- 
bitration," the  President  visited  the  conference  and  deliv- 
ered an  address  worthy  of  himself,  his  position,  the  theme, 
and  the  occasion. 

The  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  in  their 
address  to  the  General  Conference  of  1892,  say  that  "no 
one  who  attended  the  meetings  can  ever  forget  the  deep 


SECOND  METHODIST  ECUMENICAL  CONFERENCE.   571 

and  genuine  enthusiasm  and  the  glowing  religious  fervor 
which  continued  without  abatement  throughout.  The 
range  of  topics  discussed  embraced  all  the  practical  ques- 
tions of  the  times,  and  many  of  the  papers  were  able  in  a 
marked  degree.  It  is  gratifying  to  record  that  brothers 
without  distinction  of  color  mingled  with  easy  cordiality 
and  without  any  apparent  discrimination,  not  only  at  the 
communion-table,  but  both  in  the  presidency  upon  the 
platform  and  in  the  speeches  upon  the  floor." 

Among  those  whose  death  elicited  expressions  of  sorrow 
from  this  conference,  none  was  more  sincerely  mourned 
than  General  Clinton  B.  Fisk,  for  he  was  almost  as  well 
known  to  English  as  to  American  Methodism.  His  ser- 
vices to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  had  been  va- 
rious and  valuable.  As  a  platform  speaker  it  would  be 
difficult  to  find  his  superior  in  church  or  state.  Of  the 
boards  of  colleges,  seminaries,  and  of  the  Missionary  Society 
he  was  an  efficient  member,  and  as  one  of  the  local  Book 
Committee  in  New  York  he  was  remarkably  useful ;  but  the 
quality  that  endeared  him  to  all  was  an  indescribable  ge- 
niality which  diffused  itself  through  every  company,  pubhc 
or  private.  As  a  member  of  the  Cape  May  Commission 
and  as  a  delegate  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
he  contributed  much  to  the  reestablishment  of  fraternity, 
and  as  an  advocate  of  temperance  and  the  prohibition  of 
the  liquor  traffic  he  exerted  a  potent  influence. 

Benjamin  St.  James  Fry,  editor  of  the  "  Central  Chris- 
tian Advocate"  at  St.  Louis,  died  February  5,  1892. 
Early  in  life  he  was  a  journalist,  but  became  a  minister  in 
1847.  He  served  several  churches  in  Ohio,  was  for  some 
years  president  of  a  female  college,  and  three  years  chap- 
lain in  the  Union  army.  He  conducted  the  business  of 
the  depository  of  the  Methodist  Book  Concern  at  St.  Louis 
from  1865  until  1872  ;  in  the  latter  year  was  elected  editor, 


5  72  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxii. 

and  filled  that  position  with  more  than  usual  success  until 
■his  death.  He  was  a  prolific  author,  principally  of  Sunday- 
school  books  and  biographies. 

The  burning  question  of  the  quadrenniuni  was  the  prop- 
osition to  change  the  constitution  so  as  to  make  women 
eligible  to  seats  in  the  General  Conference.  The  subject 
was  discussed  for  many  months.  Their  admission  was 
opposed  on  two  grounds:  that  the  occupancy  of  such 
positions  by  women  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  teachings 
of  the  New  Testament,  and  that  it  would  not  be  expedient. 

Both  propositions  were  denied  by  the  friends  of  the 
movement.  The  question  of  rights  also  was  debated,  one 
side  claiming  that  women  are  entitled  to  representation, 
and  the  other  maintaining  that  they  are  represented  in  the 
divinely  appointed  way. 

The  laity  were  asked  to  express  their  wishes  in  the 
matter,  and  did  so  with  the  result  that  235,668  voted  that 
women  should  be  made  eligible  as  lay  delegates  in  the 
electoral  and  General  Conferences  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  and  163,843  voted  that  it  was  not  expedient 
to  make  them  eligible.  This  vote  was  without  legal  force, 
and  its  moral  significance  was  challenged  on  the  ground 
that  the  whole  number  voting  was  less  than  one  sixth  of 
the  membership.  The  challenge  was  met  with  the  state- 
ment that  this  was  a  large  vote  when  compared  with  other 
votes  of  the  laity. 

On  the  legal  vote  of  the  ministry  to  change  the  restric- 
tive rule,  the  vote  stood  5634  for  and  4717  against.  As 
the  constitution  requires  a  vote  of  three  quarters  to  make 
such  a  change,  the  measure  failed  for  the  want  of  more 
than  two  thousand  votes. 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1892,  which  met  in  Omaha, 
no  woman  appeared  claiming  a  seat,  though  some  had  been 
elected  reserve  delegates.      The  advocates   of  admission, 


PERPLEXING   LEGISLATION.  573 

desiring  to  take  some  step  to  promote  their  object,  took 
cognizance  of  the  election  of  these  reserve  delegates,  and 
moved  a  reference  of  the  subject  to  the  Judiciary  Com- 
mittee, with  instructions  to  report  upon  the  eligibility  of 
women.  It  unanimously  reported,  one  member  declining 
to  vote,  that,  under  the  situation  as  it  now  is,  women  are 
not  eligible.  When  this  report  was  presented  it  was  moved 
to  reverse  the  statement.  Pending  the  discussion  of  the 
substitute,  an  amendment  was  offered  that  the  question  be 
submitted  again  to^the  laity  for  an  expression  of  opinion, 
and  to  the  ministry  for  a  change  in  the  restrictive  rule. 
The  conditions  of  this  proposition  were  peculiar.  Mem- 
bers of  the  Annual  Conferences  were  requested  to  vote 
upon  the  question  of  amending  the  restrictive  rule  by  add- 
ing the  words,  "  and  said  delegates  must  be  male  mem- 
bers," and  it  was  assumed  that  if  the  amendment  so  sub- 
mitted did  not  receive  the  votes  of  three  quarters  of  the 
ministers  present  and  voting,  and  two  thirds  of  that  or  a 
subsequent  General  Conference,  the  rule  should  be  so  con- 
strued that  the  words  "  lay  delegates  "  might  include  both 
men  and  women.  This  proposal  was  introduced  near  the 
close  of  the  final  session,  and  was  hastily  passed  amid  con- 
fusion and  many  departures  of  members  for  their  homes. 

Another  complex  subject  was  the  report  of  a  commis- 
sion on  the  revision  of  the  constitution.  After  the  passage 
of  an  important  amendment,  the  report  was  indefinitely 
postponed,  but  referred  to  the  consideration  of  the  next 
General  Conference. 

Homer  Eaton  was  elected  book-agent  at  New  York ; 
Lewis  Curts,  a  minister  and  presiding  elder  of  the  Rock 
River  Conference,  succeeded  William  P.  Stowe  as  book- 
agent  at  Cincinnati ;  David  H.  Moore  was  elected  editor 
of  the  "  Western  Christian  Advocate " ;  Jesse  Bowman 
Young,  an  alumnus  of  Dickinson  College,  an  author  and 


5  74  ^"■^^"   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxii. 

Sunday-school  worker,  and  at  the  time  pastor  of  the  Grand 
Avenue  Church  in  Kansas  City,  was  elected  editor  of  the 
"  Central  Christian  Advocate  "  ;  J.  E.  C.  Sawyer,  a  member 
of  the  Troy  Conference  and  a  successful  pastor,  succeeded 
Warren  as  editor  of  the  Northern,  and  E.  W.  S.  Hammond, 
Albert  as  editor  of  the  Southwestern.  Albert  J.  Nast  was 
elected  editor  of  "  Der  Christliche  Apologete  "  in  place 
of  his  father,  who  had  held  that  position  since  the  incep- 
tion of  the  paper.  Joseph  C.  Hartzell  and  John  W.  Ham- 
ilton were  elected  corresponding  secretaries  of  the  Freed- 
men's  Aid  and  Southern  Education  Society.  Hartzell  had 
long  been  associated  with  Richard  S.  Rust,  but  had  been 
elected  by  the  corporation.  Rust  now  retired,  "  full  of 
years  and  of  honors."  Hamilton's  reputation  as  an  orator 
and  energetic  worker,  and  his  known  sympathy  with  the 
objects  of  the  society,  led  to  his  election. 

The  Epworth  League,  which  had  been  formed  since 
the  last  General  Conference,  was  recognized  as  a  special 
organization,  and  a  constitution  adopted  which  made  it  a 
part  of  the  church.  It  provided  that  the  president  of  an 
Epworth  League  chapter  must  be  a  member  of  the  church, 
elected  by  the  chapter,  and  approved  by  the  Quarterly 
Conference,  of  which,  when  so  approved,  he  is  a  member. 
Joseph  F.  Berr}%  a  member  of  the  Detroit  Conference  and 
at  that  time  assistant  editor  of  the  "  Michigan  Christian 
Advocate,"  was  elected  editor  of  the  "  Epworth  Herald." 

Between  the  General  Conference  of  1892  and  that  of 
1896  the  church  was  bereaved  by  the  death  of  J.  W. 
Mendenhall,  editor  of  the  "  Methodist  Review,"  Jonas 
Oramel  Peck,  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Missionary 
Society,  Benjamin  F.  Crary,  editor  of  the  "  California 
Christian  Ad\'ocate,"  Henr\-  Liebhart,  editor  of  "Hans 
und  Herd,"  and  Sanford  Hunt,  senior  publishing  agent 
at  New  York. 


A    GRAVE  ISSUE.  575 

Mendenhall  had  infused  a  new  spirit  into  the  "  Review," 
and  largely  increased  its  circulation.  Peck  had  achieved 
reputation  as  a  powerful  and  persuasive  advocate  of  mis- 
sions and  as  a  painstaking  secretary  and  superintendent. 
Crary  was  far  advanced  in  years  and  had  for  some  time 
been  disqualified  for  active  work,  but  his  previous  services 
were  gratefully  remembered  by  his  contemporaries.  Lieb- 
hart,  writing  in  German  and  for  the  Germans,  had  con- 
ducted with  success  the  mission  committed  to  him.  Hunt 
was  never  clearer,  firmer,  or  more  influential  than  on  the 
day  when,  without  warning,  he  fell  while  in  the  discharge 
of  his  duty.  A  description  of  his  achievements  for  the 
church  and  the  country  would  worthily  fill  a  volume. 

The  General  Conference  of  1896  was  held  in  Cleveland, 
O.  The  peculiar  amendment  proposed  by  the  Conference 
of  1892  had  created  such  dissatisfaction  that  six  thousand 
ministers  either  refused  or  neglected  to  vote  upon  it.  As 
the  constitution  of  the  church  allows  an  Annual  Conference 
to  propose  a  constitutional  change,  the  Colorado  Confer- 
ence voted  upon  the  amendment  which  had  been  defeated 
in  the  preceding  quadrennium,  and  requested  the  bishops 
to  submat  it  to  the  other  conferences.  It  lacked  thirty- 
eight  votes  of  the  number  necessary. 

In  the  meantime  four  women  had  been  elected, — Jane 
Field  Bashford  of  Ohio,  Lois  S.  Parker  and  Ada  C.  Butcher 
of  North  India,  and  Lydia  A.  Trimble  of  Foo-chow, — and 
the  first  three  appeared  to  claim  their  seats.  The  Con- 
ference of  1892  having  empowered  and  instructed  the 
secretary  of  the  last  General  Conference  to  make  up  the 
roll  from  the  credentials  submitted  to  him,  the  difficulty 
which  occurred  in  1888  did  not  arise.  The  roll  was  called, 
and  the  three  women  responded  to  their  names. 

Immediately  after  the  election  of  the  secretary,  the  right 
of  these  women  to  seats  was  challenged.     The  challenge 


576  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  x.mi. 

was  referred  to  a  special  committee  which  divided  in 
judgment,  nearly  two  thirds  sustaining  the  claim  of  the 
women,  the  minority  reporting  it  to  be  unconstitutional. 
It  was  moved  to  substitute  the  minority  report  for  that  of 
the  majority,  on  which  debate  was  about  to  begin,  when 
the  women  who  were  present  sent  a  communication  to  the 
conference,  withdrawing  on  the  ground  that,  while  they 
be'lieved  they  were  legally  entitled  to  seats,  they  did  not 
wish  to  be  the  center  of  controversy. 

As  the  fourth  claimant  was  not  present  and  took  no  part 
in  this,  it  was  held  that  the  case  was  still  before  the  body, 
and  the  debate  proceeded,  continuing  some  days,  when  the 
reports  were  recommitted  and  the  powers  of  the  commit- 
tee enlarged  in  the  hope  of  reaching  an  amicable  method 
of  disposing  of  the  question  for  the  present.  After  delib- 
eration the  majority  of  the  committee  consented  to  submit 
to  the  church  a  new  proposition  to  change  the  restrictive 
rule  so  as  to  admit  of  the  election  of  women.  Those  who 
maintained  that  the  constitution  as  it  now  is  excludes  women 
consented  to  allow  any  of  the  claimants  to  sit  in  the  con- 
ference, provided  it  was  admitted  that  they  sat  under  a 
title  in  dispute,  and  that  the  challenge  could  be  pressed  at 
any  time. 

Upon  its  almost  unanimous  adoption,  Lydia  A.  Trimble, 
who  had  arrived  during  the  discussion  and  taken  her  seat, 
declined  to  sit  under  a  title  in  dispute,  and  withdrew.  The 
conference  then  took  a  formal  vote  on  the  alteration  of  the 
restrictive  rule ;  and  of  the  five  hundred  and  twenty-three 
votes  cast,  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  were  for  and 
ninety-eight  against  the  alteration. 

During  the  conference  the  death  was  announced  of  John 
M.  Reid,  honorary  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Mission- 
ary Society.  He  had  always  commanded  approbation  by 
fidelity,  and  confidence  by  integrity  in  dispute. 


DELICATE    QUESTIONS.  577 

Accompanied  by  unanimous  manifestations  of  love  the 
conference  recorded  its  conviction  that  Bishops  Bowman 
and  Foster,  who  at  this  conference  finished  twenty-four 
years  of  most  effective  episcopal  service,  were  unable 
longer  to  endure  the  protracted  strain,  continuous  re- 
sponsibility, and  almost  constant  travel  imposed  by  the 
office  of  bishop,  and  that  at  the  close  of  the  present 
General  Conference  they  should  be  returned  on  the  non- 
effective list.  They  were  allowed  to  select  their  places  of 
residence  in  accordance  with  their  convenience  and  wishes, 
without  regard  to  the  places  designated  as' episcopal  resi- 
dences, and  the  Book  Committee  was  instructed  to  make 
the  most  generous  provision  for  their  support. 

Similar  action  was  taken  in  the  case  of  William  Taylor, 
missionary  bishop  of  Africa.  The  conference  requested 
the  Missionary  Society  to  provide  liberally  for  his  support, 
commended  him  to  the  loving  favor  of  the  whole  church, 
and  prayed  that  his  long  day  of  ceaseless  toil  might  culmi- 
nate in  a  twilight  of  sweet  association  with  his  brethren 
until  his  entrance  upon  the  heavenly  rest. 

The  conference  resolved  that  "  there  should  be  no  dis- 
crimination on  account  of  race  or  color  in  electing  bishops, 
but  men  should  be  chosen  because  of  their  worth  and  fit- 
ness for  the  position,"  and  declared  its  belief  that  "the 
time  has  come  when  the  General  Conference  may  safely 
and  wisely  choose  a  bishop  from  among  its  seventeen  hun- 
dred ministers  of  African  descent."  It  resolved  to  elect 
two  bishops,  and  reaffirmed  the  action  of  1888  making 
necessary  a  vote  of  two  thirds  of  all  the  votes  cast  to  elect 
to  the  episcopacy. 

J.  W.  E.  Bowen,  a  minister  of  African  descent,  edu- 
cated and  eloquent,  professor  in  the  Gammon  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  held  the  first  place  on  the  first  ballot, 
having  received  one  hundred  and  forty-five  votes.      He 


578  THE  METIIODIS'JS.  [Chai'.  xxii. 

rose  on  the  second  to  one  hundred  and  seventy- fi\e,  anil 
was  still  at  the  head.  On  the  fifteenth  ballot,  in  which  the 
whole  number  cast  was  five  hundred  and  four,  three  hun- 
dred and  thirty-six  necessary  to  a  choice,  Charles  C.  Mc- 
Cabe  was  elected.  He  was  born  in  Athens,  O.,  October 
1 1 ,  1 836.  On  account  of  his  heroism  on  the  battle-field  and 
in  Libby  prison,  eloquence  in  behalf  of  the  Christian  Com- 
mission, skill  in  increasing  the  endowment  of  his  alma 
mater,  Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  sixteen  years'  ef^cient 
work  in  the  cause  of  church  extension,  and  the  resonance 
throughout  the  land  of  the  silver  trumpet  through  which 
he  cried,  "  A  million  for  missions,"  and  was  then  crying, 
"  A  million  and  a  half,"  he  had  become  perhaps  the  most 
popular  of  American  Methodists. 

Earl  Cranston  received  three  hundred  and  sixty-six 
votes  on  the  sixteenth  ballot,  the  number  necessary  to  a 
choice  being  three  hundred  and  thirty-six.  He  also  was 
a  native  of  Athens,  O.,  born  June  27,  1840.  A  student 
in  the  Ohio  University  and  at  the  head  of  the  class  of  1861, 
early  in  that  year  he  entered  the  army,  but  returned  at 
the  end  of  a  year  and  a  half  broken  in  health.  Later  he 
began  business,  but  feeling  a  divine  call  to  the  ministry, 
entered  the  Ohio  Conference,  and  after  preaching  some 
years  in  several  States  was  transferred  to  Denver,  Colo. 
He  soon  became  presiding  elder,  making  an  extraordinary 
reputation  for  administrative  ability  and  executive  force. 
He  had  been  remarkably  efficient  as  publishing  agent  in 
Cincinnati  since  1884. 

Joseph  C.  Hartzell  was  elected  missionary  bishop  of 
Africa.  He  is  an  alumnus  of  the  Illinois  Wesleyan  Uni- 
versity and  of  the  Garrett  Biblical  Institute.  He  was  trans- 
ferred in  1870  from  the  Illinois  Conference  to  the  Ames 
Church  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  and  three  years  latet 


NEW  GENERAL    OEEICERS. 


579 


became  presiding  elder  of  a  district  of  the  same  name, 
meanwhile  editing  the  "Southwestern  Christian  Advocate." 
He  was  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Freedmen's  Aid 
and  Southern  Education  Society  when  made  bishop. 

Abraham  J.  Palmer,  an  alumnus  of  Wesleyan  University, 
a  pastor  and  presiding  elder  in  the  Newark,  New  York,  and 
New  York  East  conferences,  widely  known  as  a  lecturer  and 
at  this  time  pastor  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  New  York,  was 
elected  missionary  secretary.  The  conference  having  de- 
cided that  three  secretaries  were  required,  William  T. 
Smith,  of  the  Des  Moines  Conference,  was  elected  on  a 
later  ballot.  His  success  in  interesting  the  ministers  and 
laity  of  the  Des  Moines  Conference  in  missions  and  other 
enterprises  of  the  church  directed  attention  to  him  as  fitted 
for  this  position.  Though  the  secretaries  are  equal  in  rank, 
Leonard,  who  had  been  for  eight  years  junior  to  McCabe, 
by  courtesy  now  became  senior. 

George  P.  Mains  was  elected  publishing  agent  at  New 
York.  He  is  a  native  of  New  York,  an  alumnus  of  Wes- 
leyan University,  and  has  been  for  twenty-six  years  a 
member  of  the  New  York  East  Conference,  during  which, 
besides  being  in  charge  of  important  churches,  he  has  been 
presiding  elder,  superintendent  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Hospital  and  of  the  Brooklyn  Church  Society.  At  the  time 
of  his  election  he  had  just  reentered  the  pastorate. 

H.  C-.  Jennings  was  chosen  to  fill  the  vacancy  in  the 
Western  Book  Concern  made  by  the  election  of  Cranston 
to  the  episcopacy.  He  was  presiding  elder  of  the  Marshall 
district  of  the  Minnesota  Conference,  and  had  been  a 
member  of  that  body  twenty-five  years.  W.  S.  Matthew 
was  elected  editor  of  the  "  California  Christian  Advocate," 
of  which  he  had  been  in  charge  since  the  failure  in  health 
of  Crary  in  February,  1894;  from  1887  until  that  time  he 


580  THE  METHODISTS.  [Ciiai-.  xxii. 

had  been  dean  of  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Southern  California.  Isaiah  B.  Scott,  president  of 
Wiley  University,  Texas,  succeeded  Hammond  as  editor 
of  the  "Southwestern  Christian  Advocate."  M.  C.  B. 
Mason,  who  had  been  field  agent  of  the  Freedmen's  Aid 
and  Southern  Education  Society,  and  who  had  been  elected 
assistant  corresponding  secretary  two  years  before,  was 
chosen  one  of  the  corresponding  secretaries,  the  first  in- 
stance of  the  election  of  a  brother  of  African  descent  to  a 
corresponding  secretaryship. 

The  conference  more  explicitly  than  ever  before  defined 
the  relations  of  the  general  superintendents  and  mission- 
ary bishops.  Previous  conferences  having  declared  that  a 
missionary  bishop  "  is  not  subordinate  to  the  general  su- 
perintendents, but  is  coordinate  with  them  in  authority,  in 
the  field  to  which  he  is  appointed,"  this  conference  added: 
"  In  the  practical  application  of  this  coordinate  authority, 
when  the  general  superintendents  are  making  their  assign- 
ments to  conferences,  any  missionary  bishop  who  may  be 
in  the  United  States  shall  sit  with  them  when  his  field  is 
under  consideration,  and  arrangements  shall  be  made  so 
that  once  in  every  quadrennium,  and  not  oftener  unless  a 
serious  emergency  arises,  every  mission  over  which  a  mis- 
sionary bishop  has  jurisdiction  shall  be  administered  jointly 
by  the  general  superintendent  and  the  missionary  bishop. 
In  case  of  difference  of  judgment  the  existing  .status  shall 
continue  unless  overruled  by  the  general  superintendents, 
who  shall  have  power  to  decide  finally." 

A  movement  of  considerable  force  was  made  to  remove 
the  time  limitation  from  the  itinerancy  so  as  to  allow  ap- 
pointments from  year  to  year.  Also  a  proposition  was 
reported  to  provide  for  exceptional  cases  while  retaining 
the  limit.  The  latter  being  unsatisfactory  and  the  former 
not  having  sufficient  support,  the  subject,  which  was  not 


SUGGESTIVE    COMMENDATION.  58 1 

taken  up  for  discussion  till  late  in  the  evening  before  the 
day  of  adjournment,  was  finally  laid  upon  the  table. 

At  the  closing  session  Bishop  Merrill,  in  behalf  of  the 
board  of  bishops,  invoked  the  divine  blessing  upon  all  that 
the  conference  had  done  and  "  all  the  good  things  of  our 
glorious  Methodism  that  it  had  allowed  to  remain." 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

OTHER  BRANCHES  OF  THE  COMMON  ROOT, 

While  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  South,  are  yet  in  the  ascending 
scale  of  their  development,  contemporaneously  with  them 
other  denominations  of  Methodists  have  been  cultivating 
the  fields  which  Providence  and  their  peculiar  autonomy 
and  zeal  have  allotted  to  them. 

Among  these,  one  of  the  most  prominent  is  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. i  The  Conference  of 
1818  met  in  a  private  residence  in  the  city  of  Baltimore; 
already  1066  persons  were  recognized  as  members  of  the 
Society.  The  date  of  the  first  General  Conference  cannot 
be  positively  identified,  but  the  second  is  known  to  have 
convened  in  1820. 

Morris  Brown  was  appointed  assistant  bishop  in  1826, 
and  ordained  in  1828  as  the  second  bishop  of  the  connec- 
tion. He  displayed  great  energy,  organized  the  first  con- 
ference in  Ohio  at  Hillsboro  in  1830,  and  appointed  William 
Paul  Quinn  a  general  missionary  in  the  region  west  of  the 
Ohio.  Bishop  Allen  died  in  1831,  having  been  infirm  for 
some  time.  In  1840  Brown  organized  the  Canada  Con- 
ference. 

1  Often  spoken  of  as  "African  Methodist  Episcopal  [Bethel]  Church." 
See  p.  346. 

582 


AFRICAN  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL    CHURCH.        583 

The  laws  of  the  State  of  Delaware  in  1832  did  not  allow 
colored  ministers  to  itinerate,  and  a  petition  was  circulated 
in  the  Philadelphia  Conference  for  the  ordination  of  local 
elders  to  administer  the  sacraments. 

Edward  Watters,  the  third  bishop,  was  born  a  slave,  but 
bought  his  freedom  of  Duvall,  his  master.  He  never  held 
an  Annual  Conference  nor  ordained  a  minister,  but  was 
annually  appointed  like  other  ministers.^ 

The  membership  numbered  7594  in  1836. 

The  first  copy  of  a  magazine  issued  by  the  church  ap- 
peared in  September,  1841,  but  after  a  struggling  exist- 
ence of  eight  years  its  publication  ceased. 

At  the  Baltimore  Conference  in  1843  ^  controversy  arose 
on  the  subject  of  the  qualifications  for  a  minister.  A 
committee,  of  whom  Payne  was  chairman,  reported  against 
the  ordination  of  a  man  on  the  ground  that  he  did  not 
possess  the  information  required  by  the  Discipline.  This 
caused  a  brother  to  demand  violently  whether  one  must 
read  Greek,  Hebrew,  and  Latin  before  he  could  be  or- 
dained. The  committee  responded  that  they  proposed 
that  he  simply  be  required  to  understand  the  Discipline 
and  Bible.  The  minority  prevailed,  but  Bishop  Brown 
declared  that  he  would  not  ordain  such  if  the  whole  con- 
ference voted  that  it  should  be  done. 

The  addition  of  William  Paul  Quinn  to  the  episcopate 
in  1844  opened  a  new  era.  He  saw  the  number  of  minis- 
ters in  the  church  increase  from  seven  to  two  thousand, 
and  the  members  from  fifteen  hundred  to  more  than  three 
hundred  thousand,  and  had  ordained  or  participated  in 
the  ordination  of  all  the  bishops  of  the  church  who  were 
living  in  1880. 

At  the  Conference  of  1844  Payne  moved  a  resolution 
to  institute  a  compulsory  course  of  studies  for  the  edu- 

1  "  Sketch  of  Edward  Watters,"  by  Bishop  Wayman. 


584  ^-^-^  METHODISTS.  [Chap,  xxiii. 

cation  of  the  ministry.  Supposing  it  would  carry,  he 
made  no  speech,  but  with  indignation  the  resolution  was 
voted  down  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  The  next  day 
a  brother  moved  to  reconsider.  Then  the  aged  Bishop 
Brown  arose  and  "  addressed  the  understanding,  the  con- 
sciences, and  the  passions  of  the  audience,  till  it  was 
bathed  in  tears  and  from  many  a  voice  was  heard  the  im- 
passioned cry,  '  Give  us  the  resolution !  Give  us  the  reso- 
lution!' "  It  was  then  carried  without  a  dissenting  voice, 
a  committee  appointed,  and  an  excellent  course  of  study 
arranged.^ 

The  constitution  and  by-laws  for  a  Missionary  Society 
were  adopted,  and  it  was  organized  the  same  year ;  in  1848 
they  were  readopted,  and  the  work,  which  had  languished, 
vigorously  promoted.  The  General  Conference  of  1852 
had  to  deal  with  the  question  of  licensing  women  to  preach, 
and  the  proposition  was  voted  down  by  a  large  majorit3^ 
W.  Nazrey  and  D.  A.  Payne  were  elected  bishops.  Payne 
was  a  native  of  Charleston,  S.  C,  and  was  trained  as  a 
theologian  in  the  Gettysburg  Seminary.  Nazrey  was  a  na- 
tive of  Virginia,  and  at  the  time  of  his  election  a  resident 
of  Philadelphia. 

The  "  Christian  Recorder,"  under  the  title  of  the  "  Chris- 
tian Herald,"  was  created  by  the  General  Conference  of 
1848.  By  1855  the  progress  of  the  church  in  New  Eng- 
land elicited  expressions  of  gratification  throughout  the 
denomination.  The  Home  Missionary  Society  contributed 
much  to  its  growth  there  and  elsewhere. 

On  petition  of  the  Canadian  churches,  authority  was 
given  in  1856  for  a  separation.  In  determining  the  con- 
stitution of  the  British  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  the 
articles  of  faith  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  with 
some  modifications,  and  the  rules  of  the  Discipline,  were 

1  Payne,  pp.  169,  170. 


WILBERFORCE    UNIVERSITY.  585 

adopted,  and  Bishop  Nazrey  was  chosen  the  first  bishop 
of  the  new  church. 

The  church  in  the  United  States  founded  an  .institution 
called  Union  Seminary,  which  did  not  succeed.  A  com- 
mittee was  appointed  in  1853  by  the  Cincinnati  Conference 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  inquire  into  and  re- 
port what  best  could  be  done  to  promote  the  interests  of 
the  people  of  color.  It  recommended  the  opening  of  a 
school,  and  in  1856  was  founded  Wilberforce  University, 
of  which  Richard  S.  Rust,  an  alumnus  of  Wesleyan  Uni- 
versity, was  the  third  president;  he  conducted  its  affairs 
with  skill  and  zeal  from  1858  until  1863,  when  it  was  sold 
to  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  ten  thou- 
sand dollars.  Among  the  students  whom  Rust  educated 
were  Hunt,  who  was  for  four  years  book-steward,  and  Cain, 
first  superintendent  of  missions  in  South  Carolina,  senator 
of  that  State,  a  member  of  Congress,  and  in  1880  elected 
bishop. 

The  church  had  twenty  thousand  members  in  1856, 
mostly  located  in  the  Northern  States,  but  within  the  next 
ten  years  it  had  increased  in  membership  to  seventy-five 
thousand,  besides  gaining  fifty  per  cent,  in  property. 
During  the  next  ten  years  the  value  of  the  property  was 
multiplied  nearly  fourfold,  and  in  1890  it  was  valued  at 
$6,468,280.  Although  at  the  beginning  of  the  late  war 
the  majority  of  the  members  were  in  the  North,  more  than 
two  thirds  are  now  in  the  Southern  States.  The  progress 
of  the  church  in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  has  been 
extraordinary,  and  according  to  the  census  of  1890  the 
number  of  communicants  was  452,725,  worshiping  in  4124 
church  edifices,  whose  estimated  seating  capacity  was 
1,160,838. 

As  the  result  of  negotiations  begun  in  1880,  the  Afri- 
can Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of 


586  TJIE  METHODISTS.  [CiiAF.  XXIII. 

America  and  the  British  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of 
the  Dominion  of  Canada  were  united,  and  in  1884  the 
bishops  issued  a  proclamation  decreeing  and  affirming 
the  completion  of  their  organic  union.  This  introduced 
into  the  list  of  bishops  of  the  African  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  R.  R.  Disney,  who  had  been  ordained  by 
Way  man  in  1875. 

While  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  was  in  session  in  Philadelphia  in  1864,  the 
General  Conference  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  was  also  sitting  in  that  city.  On  May  23d  Jabez 
P.  Campbell  and  Alexander  W.  Wayman  were  ordained 
bishops.  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  sent  a  delega- 
tion of  five  members  to  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  Conference,  to  express  their  fraternal  regard  and 
notify  them  that  they  would  cordially  receive  a  similar  dele- 
gation ;  it  was  appointed,  and  Campbell  was  a  member, 
and  made  a  profound  impression  by  his  unstudied  elo- 
quence. 

The  denomination  so  increased  in  number  that  in  1868 
James  A.  Shorter,  Thomas  M.  D.  Ward,  and  John  M. 
Brown  were  elected  bishops  ;  at  the  conference  at  St.  Louis 
in  1880  H.  M.  Turner,  of  Georgia,  and  W.  F.  Dickerson, 
of  New  York,  and  R.  H.  Cain,  of  the  South  Carolina  Con- 
ference, were  elected  and  ordained  bishops;  and  in  1888 
Wesley  J.  Gaines,  Benjamin  W.  Arnett,  Benjamin  T.  Tan- 
ner, and  Abraham  Grant  were  ordained  to  the  same  office. 
Arnett  was  already  famous  for  eloquence,  and  Tanner 
widely  known  as  preacher  and  editor.  Benjamin  F.  Lee, 
Moses  B.  Salter,  and  James  A.  Handy  were  added  to  the 
episcopacy  in  1892. 

The  Discipline  contains  a  doctrinal  department  entitled 
"  Catechism  on  Faith,  "  consisting  of  quotations  from 
Wesley's  "  Works  "  ;  it  makes  the  bishops  members  of  the 


EXTRAORDINARY  EDUCATIONAL   PROGRESS.        587 

General  Conference,  also  the  other  general  officers,  and 
admits  laymen,  two  for  each  Annual  Conference  district. 
The  restrictions  upon  the  powers  of  the  General  Conference 
are  unalterable,  with  the  exception  of  the  one  regulating 
the  appropriations  of  the  Book  Concern,  which  may  be 
changed  by  a  vote  of  two  thirds  of  the  General  Conference. 

The  Discipline  of  1892  describes  fifty-one  existing  con- 
ferences, and  makes  provision  for  nine  to  be  added.  This 
includes  the  home  and  foreign  work.  Among  these  con- 
ferences are  Bermuda,  Demerara,  which  embraces  the 
territory  of  British,  French,  and  Dutch  Guiana,  Trinidad, 
St.  Thomas,  Haiti,  Liberia,  and  Sierra  Leone. 

The  amount  raised  by  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
.Church  for  missions  during  the  four  years  ending  April 
30,  1896,  was  $66,819.27,  of  which  $12,000  were  received 
from  the  government  of  Haiti  for  work  in  that  country, 
$30,000  were  appropriated  to  the  home  department  in  the 
United  States,  and  $19,419.27  to  the  foreign  department. 
It  sustains  nine  ministers  in  the  San  Domingo  Annual  Con- 
ference, two  in  the  Haitian,  four  in  the  Demerara,  nine  in 
the  Sierra  Leone  Annual  Conference,  and  fourteen  in  the 
Liberian.  To  increase  interest  in  the  cause,  the  depart- 
ment of  missions  has  recently  issued  a  periodical,  "  The 
Voice  of  Missions,"  which  is  edited  by  Bishop  Turner, 
while  the  women  publish  "  Woman's  Light  and  Love  for 
Heathen  Africa,"  a  monthly  magazine. 
.  Educational  work  is  carried  forward  upon  a  large  scale. 
During  the  last  four  years  the  receipts  from  various  sources 
amounted  to  $301,327.34.  Twelve  years  ago  the  church 
undertook  to  raise  $1,000,000  for  school  purposes  in 
the  shortest  possible  time.  Up  to  May  in  the  last  year 
$690,013.31  had  been  raised.  Six  of  their  fifty-two  insti- 
tutions, with  Wilberforce  at  the  head  in  every  respect,  are 
known  as  universities,  six  as  colleges,  the  rest  being  de- 


588  'J'Jif-^    MEJIIODISrS.  [Chap.  XXIII. 

scribed  as  institutes,  academies,  and  schools.  Seven  of  the 
schools  are  in  the  Indian  Territory,  and  eleven  in  foreign 
mission  fields. 

According  to  an  editorial  in  the  "  Christian  Recorder" 
for  September  lo,  1896,  the  number  of  members  was 
599,141  on  May  i,  1896.  The  number  of  itinerant  preach- 
ers is  given  at  4365,  but  the  number  of  probationers  is  not 
specified.  The  number  of  church  edifices  was  4575,  and  of 
higher  institutions  of  learning,  41.  The  value  of  property 
in  church  buildings  is  $8,650,155;  of  school  buildings, 
$756,475  ;  number  of  parsonages,  1650. 

The  bishops  are  H.  M.  Turner,  B.  W.  Arnett,  B.  T. 
Tanner,  W.  J.  Gaines,  Abraham  Grant,  B.  F.  Lee,  M.  B. 
Salter,  James  A.  Handy,  W.  B.  Derrick,  J.  C.  Embry, 
J.  H.  Armstrong. 

After  the  organization  of  the  AFRICAN  METHODIST 
Episcopal  Zion  Church,  Abraham  Thomson,  James 
Varick,  and  Leavin  Smith,  who  at  that  time  received  elders' 
orders,  proceeded  to  ordain  others.  During  the  year  1820 
churches  were  organized  in  New  Hampshire  and  Philadel- 
phia, and  James  Varick,  a  native  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
was  ordained  bishop.  He  was  already  an  able  debater 
and  an  eloquent  and  forcible  preacher.  Bishop  Jones,  in  his 
sketch  of  James  Varick, 1  says  that  he  was  born  in  1795. 
Bishop  Hood  ^  affirms  that  he  was  born  in  the  city  of  New 
York  about  i  750,  and  was  one  of  the  nine  official  members 
who  formed  the  Zion  Church  in  New  York  City  in  1 796. 
According  to  Bishop  Moore,  in  his  "  History  of  the 
Church,"  he  was  one  of  the  nine  male  members  who  made 
the  first  movement  toward  the  establishment  of  Zion 
Church.  This  would  make  him  seventy  years  of  age 
when  elected  bishop.     He  died  in  1827. 

1  "  Lives  of  Methodist  Bishops." 

2  "  One  Hundred  Years  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church." 


AFRICAN  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  ZION  CHURCH.     589 

A  General  Conference  was  held  in  1828,  and  Christo- 
pher Rush  elected  to  the  episcopacy.  He  was  born  a 
slave,  joined  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church 
in  1803,  and  became  a  preacher  twelve  years  later.  Be- 
ginning with  one  Annual  Conference,  like  other  branches 
of  Methodism,  its  growth  compelled  it  to  divide,  and  the 
year  after  Rush  was  elected  bishop  the  Philadelphia  Con- 
ference was  organized  with  fourteen  members,  not  in- 
cluding the  bishop.  The  New  York  Conference  had  ten 
members.  The  whole  membership  of  the  church  was  about 
two  thousand. 

From  the  time  Varick  died  until  1840  Rush  was  the 
only  bishop.  William  Miller,  the  senior  elder,  was  elected 
assistant  superintendent  in  1840. 

George  Galbreth  was  elected  assistant  in  1848,  against 
the  wishes  of  a  powerful  minority.  In  1852  he,  William 
H.  Bishop,  and  George  H.  Spywood  were  elected  on  an 
equality.  Galbreth  died  the  following  year,  and  trouble 
arose  concerning  the  exact  relation  of  Bishop  Bishop.  He 
was  summoned  to  trial,  but  did  not  respond,  and  was  de- 
clared suspended.  This  caused  a  division.  Those  who 
adhered  to  Bishop  called  themselves  the  Wesleyan  Meth- 
odist Church,  and  held  territory  from  Philadelphia  south 
and  westward ;  the  others  retained  most  of  New  York, 
New  England,  and  Nova  Scotia,  and  the  name  by  which 
the  entire  denomination  is  now  known.  The  East  favored 
a  general  and  an  assistant  superintendent,  elected  quad- 
rennially ;  the  rest  held  stronger  views  of  episcopalianism, 
although  there  was  a  mixture  of  sentiment  in  both  sections. 

After  eight  years  of  strife  the  controversy  reached  the 
civil  courts.  In  1858  the  spirit  of  union  became  upper- 
most in  the  two  factions,  and  in  Newburg,  N.  Y.,  a  con- 
vention was  held  which  adopted  a  platform  of  union  con- 
sisting of  seven  sections,  among  which  were  resolutions  that 


c^CjO  'i'i'I'-    METHODISTS.  [Chap,  xxiii. 

all  matters  pertaining  to  former  difficulties  were  to  be  laid 
aside  forever ;  that  all  parties  were  to  use  both  books  of 
Discipline  till  the  General  Conference  of  i860,  then  to  or- 
ganize under  the  Discipline  of  185  i,  and  adopt  a  Discipline 
suiting  the  wants  of  the  whole  body.  A  convention  of 
the  two  factions  was  held  on  the  6th  of  the  following 
month  in  Zion  Church. 

The  union  was  consummated,  and  the  body  elected 
Peter  Ross,  J.  J.  Clinton,  and  W.  H.  Bishop,  bishops ;  but 
the  denomination  was  unable  to  maintain  three  bishops, 
and  Ross,  the  least  influential,  could  not  secure  a  support, 
and  at  the  end  of  three  years  resigned. 

The  laity  were  admitted  in  1851  to  representation  in 
both  Annual  and  General  Conferences.  Hood  justly  says, 
"  The  ministers  in  Zion  Church,  almost  from  its  organiza- 
tion, were  more  liberal  toward  the  laity  than  any  other 
branch  of  Episcopal  Methodism."  Each  Annual  Confer- 
ence is  entitled  to  two  lay  delegates  to  the  General  Confer- 
ence, except  such  as  have  but  one  ministerial  delegate ; 
and  each  station  and  circuit  has  the  privilege  of  sending 
one  lay  delegate  to  the  Annual  Conference.  These  cannot 
vote,  but  the  district  conference  immediately  preceding 
the  meeting  of  the  Annual  Conference  may  elect  three 
lay  delegates,  or  a  less  number,  to  represent  the  district, 
who  are  entitled  to  vote.  Where  there  are  no  district 
conferences  the  lay  delegates  present  are  entitled  to  elect  a 
number  of  representatives  equal  to  one  quarter  of  the  cir- 
cuits and  stations  included  in  the  conference  district. 

At  the  Conference  of  1 884  the  word  "  male  "  was  stricken 
from  the  Discipline,  so  that  the  sexes  are  equally  eligible 
to  all  positions,  lay  and  clerical,  in  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church. 

As  late  as  i860  there  were  but  six  Annual  Conferences, 
and  the  connection  was  confined  to  sections  of  the  Eastern 


SPREADING  IN   TH£   SOUTH.  59 1 

and  Middle  States;  92  of  a  total  of  197  ministers  were  liv- 
ing, and  there  were  5000  members. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  war  the  church  advanced  into 
the  South,  sending  down  Hood,  afterward  bishop,  who 
arrived  in  Newberne,  N.  C,  in  January,  1864,  where  he 
received  into  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church 
about  four  hundred  members,  who  had  formed  a  society 
previously  connected  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.  Before  that  year  closed  the  North  Carolina  Con- 
ference was  established  with  eleven  ministers.  An  effort 
was  made  to  unite  the  Bethel  and  Zion  churches,  but  it  did 
not  succeed,  though  a  platform  was  prepared. 

The  General  Conference  of  1864  added  S.  D.  Talbot, 
J.  W.  Brooks,  and  J.  W.  Loguen  to  the  episcopal  board. 
Loguen  resigned  and  Bishop  was  retired  at  his  own  request. 
The  church  was  now  represented  from  Louisiana  to  Nova 
Scotia,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 

An  attempt  was  made  in  1868  by  Gilbert  Haven  and 
others  to  promote  a  union  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Hood  says  that  it  was  proposed  that  they  should 
have  a  pro  rata  representation  in  the  episcopal  board; 
"  Haven  was  perfectly  honest  and  thought  he  could  man- 
age it."  A  delegate  was  sent  to  Chicago,  but  while  per- 
haps a  majority  of  the  body  was  inclined  to  concur  with 
Haven,  Henry  Sheer  and  a  powerful  minority  contended 
against  it,  and  it  came  to  naught. 

J.  W.  Loguen,  who  had  resigned,  was  brought  forward 
and  reelected,  and  J.  J.  Moore  and  S.  T.  Jones  were  also 
elected  in  1868.  In  1872  Brooks  was  retired  and  Loguen 
died.  Only  one  bishop  was  added  in  that  year.  From 
1864  to  1876  the  connection  doubled  five  times,  and  in 
the  latter  year  numbered  two  hundred  and  twenty-five 
thousand.  After  1868  the  episcopacy  was  made  a  life 
office,  but  to  continue  to  exercise  its  functions  the  bishop 


592  THE^IETIIODISrS.       .  [CuAf.  xxiii. 

had  to  be  reelected  every  four  years.  If  not  reelected  he 
was  considered  retired,  but  could  retain  his  title.  This 
proving  an  unsatisfactory  arrangement,  in  1880  the  rule 
was  changed  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote,  so  that  with- 
out reelection  the  bishop  should  remain  in  office  during 
good  behavior. 

Efforts  were  made  in  1880  to  put  the  official  paper  of 
the  church  upon  a  proper  basis.  Twenty  years  before  the 
"  Anglo-African  "  was  adopted,  but  ran  a  short  course. 
Then  the  "  Zion  Standard  and  Weekly  Review "  was 
started,  and  nearly  eight  thousand  dollars  spent  in  the 
effort  to  establish  a  connectional  journal.  Afterward  the 
"Zion  Christian  Advocate"  was  begun  in  Washington, 
but  only  three  numbers  were  issued.  The  "  Star  of  Zion  " 
was  then  started,  and  adopted  by  this  General  Conference 
as  a  permanent  organ  of  the  connection.  The  church  also 
published  the  "  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Quar- 
terly," of  which  John  C.  Dancy  is  the  editor.  He  studied 
at  Howard  University,  Washington,  has  occupied  many 
public  positions,  has  been  a  member  of  four  General  Con- 
ferences, and  while  abroad  lectured  in  the  United  King- 
dom with  great  acceptability. 

The  same  conference  provided  for  the  establishment  of 
Livingstone  College.  Many  efforts  had  been  made  to 
promote  education.  The  first  was  the  founding  of  Rush 
Academy  in  the  State  of  New  York,  but  after  twenty  years 
nothing  had  been  accomplished,  and  it  was  proposed  to 
locate  Rush  University  at  Fayetteville,  O.  Zion  Hill 
Collegiate  Institute,  under  the  special  patronage  of  the 
senior  bishop,  Clinton,  was  established,  and  its  failure 
broke  his  heart.  Zion  Wesley  Institute  was  started  at 
Concord,  N.  C,  in  1878,  but  was  removed  to  Salisbury. 
It  promised  success,  and  in  1880  was  adopted  by  the 
General    Conference ;    Joseph    C.    Price    was    appointed 


ELOQUENCE    OF  PRICE.  593 

agent,  and  the  name  of  the  institution  was  changed  to 
Livingstone  College.  Price  afterward  became  its  presi- 
dent. He  was  without  admixture  of  other  than  negro 
blood,  was  graduated  from  Lincoln  University,  and  had 
been  a  member  of  the  North  Carolina  Conference  for  four 
years.  At  the  end  of  his  third  year  he  was  advanced  to 
elder's  and  deacon's  orders  and  elected  to  the  General 
Conference  without  ever  having  been  a  member  of  the 
Annual  Conference.  His  abilities  were  remarkable.  At 
that  conference  he  was  called  upon  to  respond  to  the  fra- 
ternal messenger  from  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  Bethel.  He  had  but  a  few  moments'  notice,  yet  de- 
livered an  astonishingly  eloquent  discourse.  So  attractive 
was  he  in  conversation  that  with  the  greatest  ease  he  could 
obtain  money  for  the  college.  While  in  England  he  raised 
ten  thousand  dollars  for  that  purpose.  He  was  a  delegate 
to  the  Ecumenical  Conference  in  the  City  Road  Chapel, 
London,  and  in  an  address  of  five  minutes  reached  the 
highest  point  of  eloquence  attained  in  the  two  weeks'  ses- 
sion of  representatives  of  Methodism  from  all  parts  of  the 
world.  He  died  young,  but  was  worthy  of  being  com- 
pared, not  in  style,  but  in  effectiveness  as  an  orator,  with 
Frederick  Douglass. 

At  the  centennial  of  the  establishment  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  Baltimore,  in  1884,  the  spirit  of  union 
for  a  short  time  rose  to  a  great  height,  and  plans  for  the 
consolidation  of  Bethel  and  Zion  were  made,  but  came  to 
nothing. 

On  account  of  loss  of  sight  Rush  was  compelled  to  retire 
from  the  active  duties  of  the  episcopacy  in  1852  ;  he  lived 
until  1873,  dying  in  his  ninety-sixth  year. 

The  first  Discipline  of  the  church,  in  1820,  declared: 
"  We  will  not  receive  any  person  into  our  societies  who  is 
a  slave-holder.    Any  one  who  is  now  a  member  and  holds 


594  ^^^^  me'J'hodjsts.  [Chap.  xmu. 

a  slave  or  slaves  and  refuses  to  emancipate  them,  after 
notice  is  given  to  such  member  by  the  pastor  in  charge, 
shall  be  excluded." 

This  law  not  only  accounted  in  large  measure  for  the 
rapid  spread  of  the  church  in  the  South  at  the  close  of  the 
war,  but  long  before  that  was  the  means  of  attracting  to 
its  membership  the  most  distinguished  American  citizen 
of  African  descent. 

Frederick  Douglass,  while  yet  a  slave,  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Maryland,  and  on 
arrival  in  New  Bedford,  in  1838,  fully  discerned  the  re- 
lation of  that  church  to  slavery;  hence  he  joined  a  little 
branch  of  Zion,  and  the  next  year  was  licensed  as  a  local 
preacher.  He  states  that  the  exercise  of  his  gifts  in  that 
vocation  helped  to  prepare  him  for  the  sphere  which  he 
afterward  occupied,  and  in  closing  a  sketch  of  his  connec- 
tion with  the  church  ^  says,  "  I  look  back  to  the  days  I 
spent  in  little  Zion,  New  Bedford,  in  the  several  capacities 
of  sexton,  steward,  class-leader,  clerk,  and  local  preacher, 
as  among  the  happiest  of  my  life."  Frederick  Douglass 
was  an  antislavery  reformer,  editor,  assistant  secretary  of 
the  commission  to  San  Domingo,  one  of  the  Territorial 
Council  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  presidential  elector  at 
large  for  the  State  of  New  York,  United  States  marshal 
for  the  District  of  Columbia,  recorder  of  deeds  for  the 
District,  minister  to  Haiti,  a  lecturer  and  orator  worthy 
of  being  classed  among  the  most  noted. 

The  denomination  indorses  and  supports  the  Petty  High 
School  at  Lancaster,  S.  C,  the  Greenville  High  School  in 
Tennessee,  another  of  the  same  name  in  Alabama,  Zion 
High  School  at  Norfolk,  Va.,  Jones  University  at  Tusca- 
loosa, Ala.  These  are  developed  into  seminaries  as  they 
increase. 

1  Hood,  p.  542. 


CONTINUED  PROSPERITY.  595 

The  church  has  continued  to  prosper,  reporting  in  1896, 
in  its  official  paper,  the  "Star  of  Zion  " :  organizations, 
1981  ;  church  buildings,  161 5  ;  other  places  of  worship, 
366.  The  valuation  of  its  church  property  is  $3,510,189, 
not  including  $177,162,  the  estimated  value  of  its  214 
parsonages.  Its  Sunday-schools  register  124,277  scholars, 
and  the  number  of  its  traveling  preachers,  including  397 
not  ordained,  amounts  to  2255,  and  there  are  470,023 
members  in  full  connection,  which,  with  the  probation- 
ers, make  a  total  of  497,845. 

The  foreign  missionary  work  was  made  a  separate  de- 
partment in  1884.  During  ten  years  it  has  been  able  to 
devote  five  thousand  dollars  to  the  work,  which  has  been 
expended  in  Africa.  The  bishops  are  J.  W.  Hood  (sen- 
ior bishop),  T.  H.  Lomax,  C.  C.  Petty,  C.  R.  Harris,  I.  C. 
Clinton,  and  A.  Walters. 

The  Union  American  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  ^  has  branches  in  Massachusetts,  Connecticut, 
Rhode  Island,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland,  Arkansas,  Mississippi,  and  the  Province  of  On- 
tario. Its  Discipline  was  revised  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  1 890.  It  has  availed  itself  of  many  modern  features 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  especially  the  form  for 
reception  of  members  after  probation,  and  also  of  several 
of  the  questions  propounded  in  the  reception  of  traveling 
preachers  into  full  connection.  Among  its  peculiarities 
are  officers  of  the  General  Conference  known  as  marshals. 
Bishops  preside  over  districts,  of  which  there  are  four.  There 
are  four  Annual  Conferences,  and  laymen  are  admitted  in  a 
number  equal  to  that  of  the  ministers.  In  the  Discipline 
there  is  a  chapter  devoted  to  "  Female  Members  that  are 
or  may  be  Wrought  upon  to  Preach  the  Word  of  God." 
After  the  pastor  and  the  stewards,  without  prejudice  or 

J  See  p.  347. 


596  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap,  xxiii. 

partiality,  have  examined  such  a  person  and  have  decided 
that  she  is  a  suitable  candidate,  they  designate  her  for  a 
trial  sermon ;  and  when  she  has  preached  the  same  a  two 
thirds'  vote  of  the  membership  and  officers  determine 
whether  she  shall  be  licensed.  The  license  gives  permis- 
sion to  exercise  her  gifts  and  graces  in  the  church  of  which 
she  is  a  member  and  elsewhere,  at  such  times  as  the  pas- 
tor and  officials  may  deem  expedient.  She  shall  have 
no  other  form  of  license,  and  shall  not  be  considered  a 
member  of  the  Quarterly  Conference  or  of  the  official 
board  of  the  church,  but  amenable  to  it. 

The  total  number  of  members  in  1890  was  2279.  The 
bishops  are  elected  for  life. 

The  African  Union  Methodist  Protestant 
Church  was  organized  about  the  same  time  that  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  arose.  The  Disci- 
pline of  1895  describes  its  title  as  the  African  Union  First 
Colored  Methodist  Protestant  Church  of  America  and 
Elsewhere.  This  body  met  by  representatives  in  a  gen- 
eral convention  in  June,  1850.  Another  convention,  of 
the  African  Union  and  the  First  Colored  Methodist  Protest- 
ant Church,  was  held  in  Baltimore  on  the  25th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1865.  They  united  and  formed  the  present  church, 
and  held  their  first  General  Conference  in  1866  in  Wil- 
mington, Del. 

This  body  has  no  bishops,  but  each  Annual  Conference 
is  vested  with  the  power  of  annually  electing  a  president. 
He  can  hold  office  but  four  years,  must  have  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Annual  Conference  five  years,  and  must  be  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  by  a  committee  of  five 
must  be  examined  in  various  branches  of  knowledge. 

The  membership  of  this  church,  represented  in  eight 
States  and  included  in  two  conferences  and  forty  churches, 
as  reported  in  1890,  was  3415. 


A   FRIENDLY  SEPARATION.  597 

A  few  churches  of  CONGREGATIONAL  Methodists, 
Colored,  exist  in  Alabama  and  Texas.  They  were  or- 
ganized by  presidents  of  the  white  Congregational  Metho- 
dist Church.     Their  membership  is  less  than  500, 

The  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was 
organized  in  1870.  According  to  the  statistics  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  there  were  in  con- 
nection with  that  body  at  its  organization  in  1845,  124,- 
000  colored  members.  By  i860  this  number  had  in- 
creased to  207,766;  but  six  years  later  only  78,742 
remained  in  the  communion.^  The  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  and  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Church,  both  of  which  had  made  little  progress  in  the 
South,  received  a  majority,  and  another  large  body,  in- 
cluding many  of  the  preachers,  joined  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church. 

Slavery  having  been  abolished,  the  federal  Constitution 
having  been  amended,  giving  the  negroes  all  civil  rights, 
it  was  impossible  to  carry  on  the  work  among  them  ac- 
cording to  the  old  method,  when  the  gallery  or  a  portion 
of  the  body  of  the  house  was  reserved  for  negroes,  and 
when  special  missions  were  established  for  those  who  were 
on  plantations  and  not  allowed  to  attend  church  beyond 
their  bounds.  The  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  in  1866  decided  that  if  the  col- 
ored membership  desired  it,  the  bishops,  "  if  and  when 
their  godly  judgment  approved,  should  organize  them 
into  an  independent  body." 

Under  this  authorization,  during  the  year  following  the 
adjournment  of  the  conference  the  bishops  formed  several 
Annual  Conferences  of  colored  preachers,  a  scheme  which 
proved  highly  satisfactory.  After  experience  and  reflec- 
tion   a   general    and    earnest   desire    for  an  independent 

1  McTyeire,  "  History  of  Methodism,"  p.  670. 


598  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai-.  xxiit. 

church  was  expressed  by  preachers  and  members.  Ac- 
cording to  the  account  given  by  Bishop  Holsey '  the 
ground  of  this  desire  was  that  it  would  be  better  for  both 
white  and  colored  people  to  have  separate  churches  and 
schools.  Accordingly  the  preachers  of  the  colored  con- 
ferences asked  the  General  Conference  of  1870  to  appoint 
a  commission  to  confer  with  their  own  delegates.  The  re- 
sult was  that  in  December,  1870,  a  new  body  was  formed 
under  the  counsel  and  general  superintendence  of  Bishops 
Paine  and  McTyeire,  who  presided  at  a  convention  held 
in  Jackson,  Tenn.,  and  set  apart  the  colored  conferences, 
eight  in  number.  The  body  chose  its  own  name,  the 
Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church ;  adopted  the  Arti- 
cles of  Religion  and  Form  of  Government  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  determined  to  elect  bishops  for 
life,  and  then  and  there  so  elected  W.  H.  Miles  and  R.  H. 
Vanderhorst.  Miles,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  had  been  a  min- 
ister of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  and 
a  missionary  for  the  Society  in  1867. 

The  General  Conference  which  authorized  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Amer- 
ica ordered  that  all  church  property  which  had  been  ac- 
quired, held,  and  used  for  Methodist  negroes  be  turned 
over  to  them  by  Quarterly  Conferences  and  trustees.  The 
valuation  of  this  property  is  variously  estimated  at  from 
$1,000,000  to  $1,500,000.2  Membership  in  the  body 
is  restricted  to  negroes.  The  Discipline  forbids  the 
using  of  the  church  houses  for  political  speeches  and 
meetings. 

During  the  quarter  of  a  century  which  has  elapsed  since 
its  organization  the  church  has  prospered.  It  has  three 
conferences  in  Texas,  two  each  in  Tennessee,  Mississippi, 

1  Bishop  Holsey  in  the  "  Independent  "  for  March  5,  1891. 

2  McTyeire,  p.  671. 


THE   METHODIST  PROTESTANT   CHURCH.  5 (,9 

Georgia;  besides  the  Arkansas  Conference  it  has  a  Little 
Rock  Conference,  also  one  each  in  Florida,  Illinois,  Loui- 
siana, Missouri  and  Kansas,  North  Carolina,  South  Caro- 
lina, and  Virginia.  It  observes  Children's  day  and  pro- 
motes education,  but  has  no  foreign  missions.  Its  Church 
Extension  Society  has  been  established,  but  may  be  said 
to  be  in  a  formative  condition.  Its  publishing  interests 
have  given  it  much  trouble.  The  "  Christian  Index  "  is 
the  organ  of  the  denomination.  A  new  paper,  edited  by 
Bishop  Holsey,  has  been  established  at  Atlanta,  Ga. 

The  first  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Protestant  Church  assembled  in  Georgetown,  D.  C, 
May  6,  1834.^  Standing  committees  were  appointed  upon 
the  Executive,  Judiciary,  Means  of  Grace,  Missions,  and 
Literature ;  a  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  was  constituted, 
also  a  Book  Committee.  Nicholas  Snethen  and  Asa  Shinn 
were  elected  joint  editors  of  the  "  Methodist  Protestant." 
As  the  patronage  did  not  justify  the  employment  of  two 
editors,  at  the  end  of  the  first  year  Snethen  was  retired, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  second  Shinn  was  superseded,  and 
for  purposes  of  economy  an  unmarried  man  made  editor. 
There  were  difficulties  because  of  what  Shinn  considered 
unwarrantable  interference  on  the  part  of  a  subcommittee 
with  his  prerogatives  as  editor.  Before  this  arrangements 
had  been  made  for  a  General  Conference  once  in  seven 
years,  but  a  special  session  was  ordered,  and  it  was  deter- 
mined that  the  General  Conference  should  assemble  quad- 
rennially. 

A  hterary  institution  was  estabHshed  in  1836  at  Law- 
renceville,  Ind. ;  for  a  time  it  was  conducted  by  Snethen, 
but  in  consequence  of  the  lack  of  financial  support  and  the 
destruction  of  the  buildings  by  fire  the  enterprise  was 
abandoned. 

1  For  origin  see  pp.  365-369. 


600  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap,  xxiii. 

The  General  Conference  of  1838  was  marked  by  excit- 
ing and  acrimonious  debates  upon  the  subject  of  slavery. 
Thomas  H.  Stockton  was  elected  editor  of  the  church 
paper.  As  the  church  constitution  had  made  it  free,  and 
the  General  Conference  had  declared  that  it  should  be 
so,  he  went  to  Baltimore  to  enter  upon  the  duties  of  his 
office,  but  found  that  on  the  slavery  question  the  Book 
Committee,  "  right  in  the  teeth  of  the  constitution,  and 
over  the  action  of  the  General  Conference,  had  gagged 
the  paper."  He  therefore  declined  the  chair,  and  Eli  Y. 
Reese  was  appointed.  Brown,  in  his  "Autobiography," 
says,  "  He  filled  his  position  with  ability,  but  alas  for  him 
and  for  us  all,  in  a  free  country  and  in  a  free  church  he 
edited  a  gagged  paper."  Bassett  ^  states  the  case  for  the 
committee. 

When  the  General  Conference  of  1842  convened  in  Bal- 
timore it  was  besieged  by  memorials  on  the  subject  of 
slavery  and  by  reports  of  the  action  of  at  least  eight  An- 
nual Conferences.  These  were  referred  to  a  select  com- 
mittee, which  brought  in  majority  and  minority  reports. 
After  much  debate  both  were  indefinitely  postponed,  and 
by  a  meager  majority  of  three  a  compromise  resolution 
was  adopted,  which  was :  "  That  slavery  is  not  under  all 
circumstances  a  sin,  yet  under  some  circumstances  it  is  a 
sin,  and  under  such  circumstances  should  be  discouraged 
by  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  ;"  but,  "  The  General 
Conference  does  not  feel  authorized  by  the  constitution  to 
legislate  on  the  subject  of  slavery ;  and  by  a  solemn  vote 
we  present  to  the  church  our  judgment  that  the  different 
Annual  Conferences  respectively  should  make  their  own 
regulations  on  this  subject  so  far  as  authorized  by  the 
constitution."  Most  of  the  affirmative  vote  was  cast  by 
Southerners,  and  most  of  the  negative  by  Northerners. 

1  "  Concise  History  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church." 


SLAVERY  A    DISTURBING   FACTOR.  6oi 

The  General  Conference  of  1846  laid  upon  the  table  a 
resolution  declaring  that  "  the  practice  of  buying  or  selling 
men,  women,  or  children,  with  the  intention  of  enslaving 
them  or  holding  them  in  slavery,  where  emancipation  is 
practicable,  is  an  offense  condemned  by  the  Word  of 
God,"  and  adopted  the  compromise  statement  which  had 
been  passed  in   1842.     The  membership  was  reported  at 

The  slavery  question  agitated  the  General  Conference 
of  1850,  but  the  body  declared  by  resolution  that  it  had 
no  jurisdiction  over  the  subject,  and  referred  the  matter 
to  the  Annual  Conferences.  Reese,  the  editor,  had  refused 
to  publish  the  minutes  of  the  North  Illinois  Conference  in 
relation  to  slavery,  and  it  was  moved  to  condemn  him  for 
so  doing;  but  the  conference,  after  debate,  vindicated  him. 
This  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  "  Western  Methodist 
Protestant "  and  a  Book  Concern. 

Madison  College  proved  a  financial  failure,  and  the  en- 
terprise was  relinquished  and  the  property  sold  in  1857. 

Conventions  were  held  to  discuss  the  subject  of  sla- 
very, and  memorials  were  sent  to  the  General  Conference 
of  1858  asking  for  the  ehmination  from  the  constitution 
and  Discipline  of  everything  that  could  directly  or  indi- 
rectly justify  the  practice  of  slave-holding  and  slave-deal- 
ing, and  petitioning  for  the  insertion  of  a  clause  that  vol- 
untary slave-holding  and  slave-dealing  would  be  a  bar  to 
membership ;  but  that  body  disregarded  the  memorials. 
The  excitement  c6ntinued.  Reese  was  reelected  editor  of 
the  "  Methodist  Protestant,"  and  the  church  divided. 

Negotiations  were  begun,  in  1867,  looking  toward  a 
union  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  the 
Methodist  Protestant  Church.  The  latter  asked  the  former 
to  strike  out  the  word  "  South  "  and  insert  the  word  "  Prot- 
estant "  if  the  word  "  Episcopal"  were  retained;   to  dis- 


602  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap,  xxiii. 

pense  with  the  presiding  eldership  ;  to  have  as  many  bish- 
ops as  Annual  Conferences ;  to  give  itinerant  ministers  the 
right  of  appeal  from  the  stationing  power ;  to  concede  no 
veto  power  to  the  bishops ;  and  to  make  other  radical 
changes.  The  commissioners  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  responded  to  each  point  separately,  defi- 
nitely for  or  against,  but  the  negotiations  availed  nothing. 

The  nineteen  conferences  of  the  Northern  and  Western 
branches  held  their  organizing  convention  November  lo, 
1858,  in  Springfield,  O.  All  in  the  non-slave-holding 
States  Were  represented  but  those  of  Maine  and  Oregon, 
remote  and  small.  They  voted  almost  unanimously  to 
strike  the  word  "white  "  from  the  constitution,  and  to  in- 
sert the  declaration  that  "  the  buying  or  selling  of  men, 
women,  or  children,  or  holding  them  in  slavery  as  they  are 
held  in  these  United  States,  is  inconsistent  with  the  mo- 
rality of  the  Holy  Scriptures,"  and  appointed  the  necessary 
committees,  one  of  which  proposed  to  accept  the  proposi- 
tion of  Cyrus  Prindle,  book-agent  of  the  Wesleyan  Con- 
nection in  America,  to  prepare  a  joint  hymn-book,  and 
ordered  the  publication  of  a  new  Discipline,  as  amended 
by  the  convention.  It  made  arrangements  for  the  call  of  a 
convention  at  Pittsburg  in  i860.  Another  assembled  on 
the  5th  of  November,  1862,  which  was  invested  with  full 
legislative  powers.  That  year  the  General  Conference  of 
the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  had  failed  to  meet  because 
of  the  Civil  War.  They  therefore  declared  that  the  Meth- 
odist churches  in  the  West  and  North  were  absolved  from 
obligation  to  ask  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  conferences 
in  the  Southern  States  official  concurrence  in  their  action, 
and  were  "  left  entirely  free  to  maintain  the  act  of  suspen- 
sion adopted  in  Springfield,  O.,  in  1858." 

The  initiative  had  been  taken  in  1859  for  the  consolida- 
tion of  the  Methodist  Protestants  ,and  the  Wesleyans,  and 


A    TRANSIENT  ORGANIZATION.  603 

in  1865  Cyrus  Prindle  arrived  from  the  latter  body  to 
advocate  union.  Meanwhile  Hiram  Mattison,  a  very  able 
and  widely  known  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  had  organized  an  independent  church  in  the  city 
of  New  York.  He  and  representatives  of  other  independ- 
ent Methodist  churches  appointed  in  1864  a  committee  to 
confer  with  the  committees  of  other  Methodist  bodies  with 
the  purpose  of  uniting  in  one  all  non-Episcopal  Methodists. 
A  convention  for  that  purpose  met,  and  recommended 
the  calling  of  a  delegated  assembly  in  May,  1866,  in  Cin- 
cinnati, with  power  to  fix  the  basis  of  union  and  the 
method  of  consummating  it.  One  hundred  and  forty 
ministerial  and  lay  delegates  attended.  The  free-State 
conferences  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  and  the 
Wesleyan  body  were  represented  numerously,  and  there 
were  delegates  from  some  other  independent  bodies.  The 
Free  Methodists  sent  no  representatives,  and  in  the  in- 
terval Mattison  had  returned  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  The  result  was  that  the  new  organization  decided 
upon  the  name  of  the  "  Methodist  Church,"  and  adopted 
with  few  modifications  the  regular  constitution  of  the 
Methodist  Protestant  Church,  as  revised  by  the  convention 
of  1858. 

The  first  General  Conference  of  the  METHODIST 
Church  was  held  in  Cleveland,  O.,  May,  1867.  The 
new  organization,  from  the  statistics  available,  appeared  to 
have  a  membership  of  49,030 ;  nevertheless  not  a  single 
conference  of  the  Wesleyan  denomination  was  represented, 
and  only  four  of  its  ministers  and  three  of  its  laymen  were 
present.  The  leaders  who  had  proposed  and  advocated 
the  union  had  either  returned  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  or  made  arrangements  to  do  so.i 

Concerning  this,  Martin,  in  his  "  History  of  Wesleyan 

1  Bassett,  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church." 


604  ^'■^^^'   ^yJ^TIIODISTS.  [Chai'.  xxm. 

Methodism,"  ^  says:  "  In  the  final  outcome  the  Methodist 
Protestants  generally  went  into  the  new  organization, 
which  took  the  name  of  the  '  Methodist  Church,'  while 
the  Wesley  an  Methodists  pretty  generally  remained  out 
of  it  and  maintained  their  own  denominational  identity." 

The  next  General  Conference  was  held  in  Pittsburg. 

Adrian  College,  in  the  city  of  the  same  name  in  Michi- 
gan, was  projected  in  1857,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  rep- 
resentations of  Dr.  Asa  Mahan,  who  induced  the  people  of 
that  city  to  give  a  site  and  to  subscribe  thirty  thousand 
dollars  for  the  erection  of  a  college.  The  Wesleyan 
Methodists  obligated  themselves  to  conduct  it  and  to  en- 
dow it  within  five  years  with  the  sum  of  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  The  college  was  opened  in  1859,  and 
was  carried  on  for  several  years  by  the  devotion  of  its  in- 
structors and  liberal  gifts  by  its  friends  for  current  ex- 
penses. But  the  efforts  to  secure  the  endowment  failed,  and 
the  trustees  proposed  to  the  Methodist  Protestant  conven- 
tion to  cooperate  with  them ;  but  no  satisfactory  arrange- 
ments were  then  made.  Subsequently  a  plan  was  devised 
which  for  a  time  bade  fair  to  succeed.  Discussions  on  the 
subject  had  caused  some  alienation  of  feeling,  but  the 
announcement  was  made  that  the  college  had  become 
the  property  of  the  Methodist  Church. 

A  compilation  of  hymns,  chiefly  by  Alexander  Clark, 
was  adopted.  He  was  continued  in  the  editorship  of 
the  "  Methodist  Recorder." 

The  General  Conference  of  1875  found  much  to  encour- 
age it.  The  publishing  affairs,  the  "  Methodist  Recorder," 
and  Adrian  College,  were  in  better  condition  than  ever  be- 
fore. A  leading  and  honored  member  of  the  Methodist 
Protestant  Church  now  appeared  as  fraternal  messenger, 

1  "  The  Wesleyan  Manual;  or,  History  of  Wesleyan  Methodism,"  p.  141, 
by  Joel  Martin  (Syracuse,  N.  V.,  Wesleyan  Methodist  Publishing  House).     ' 


REUNION.  605 

with  assurances  of  a  rapidly  growing  sentiment  in  the 
church  in  favor  of  an  organic  union.  The  response  of  the 
Methodist  Church  represented  it  as  in  full  tide  of  prog- 
ress toward  reunion.  Nine  commissioners  were  ordered 
to  be  elected  to  confer  with  a  similar  body  elected  by  the 
General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church. 
The  preceding  year  William  Hunter  appeared  as  fraternal 
messenger  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  the 
senior  bishop,  Janes,  arrived  unofficially  and  addressed  the 
conference  for  an  hour,  distinctly  favoring  organic  union 
for  all  branches  of  Methodism.^ 

Delegates  of  both  branches  appeared  In  1876  before  the 
General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  in  1877  the  general  conventions  of  the  Methodist 
Church  and  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  respect- 
ively assembled  at  the  same  time  in  Baltimore.  After 
discussion  in  each  body,  the  basis  of  union  was  adopted, 
a  committee  of  arrangements  for  merging  the  two  con- 
ventions presented  a  plan,  and  on  Wednesday  afternoon, 
May  16,  1876,  the  union  was  consummated,  and  congrat- 
ulations from  other  Methodist  bodies  were  received. 

Since  that  time  the  denomination  has  steadily  increased. 
The  president.  Dr.  J.  W.  Herring,  of  Westminster,  Md,,  in 
his  report  to  the  seventeenth  quadrennial  session  of  the 
General  Conference,  convened  in  Kansas  City,  Kan.,  in 
May,  1896,  observed  that  as  a  result  of  his  four  years'  ex- 
perience in  the  presidency  he  was  convinced  that  the  con- 
ferences and  churches  freest  from  trouble  and  doing  the 
best  work  were  those  that  most  scrupulously  respected 
church  law.  He  declared  that  the  church  was  steadily 
growing,  that  its  principles  were  more  and  more  recog- 
nized as  furnishing  a  true  foundation  for  the  highest  and 
best  ecclesiastical  system,  and  declared  that  "  it  would  glad- 
1  Bassett,  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church." 


6o6  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap,  xxiii. 

den  the  heart  of  every  true  follower  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  if  the  barriers  which  now  exist  between  our  Metho- 
disms  were  broken  down  and  gone  forever." 

Thirty-eight  conferences  and  missions  were  represented. 
They  show  the  denomination  to  be  the  largest  in  Maryland, 
the  State  of  its  origin  ;  the  next  in  order  of  numbers  are 
North  Carolina  and  West  Virginia,  but  the  latter  confer- 
ence has  a  few  appointments  in  Virginia,  Delaware,  and 
New  Jersey. 

The  denomination  has  a  permanent  invested  fund  for 
ministerial  education,  recognizes  the  Young  People's  Socie- 
ties of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  asserts  the  vital  necessity 
of  complete  connection  between  the  church  and  such  so- 
cieties. The  Pittsburg  directory  reports  its  present  assets 
over  liabilities  to  be  above  $53,000,  and  the  Baltimore 
directory  is  solvent  and  with  a  small  surplus.  Besides 
these  the  church  prints  five  Sunday-school  periodicals.  Its 
home  mission  department  expended  in  the  four  years  pre- 
ceding the  last  conference  about  $30,000.  The  Women's 
Home  Missionary  Society  was  established  in  1894,  and 
modeled  after  those  in  other  denominations.  In  four 
years  $52,260  had  been  received  for  the  cause  of  foreign 
missions.  The  Women's  Missionary  Society  had  gleaned 
during  the  quadrennium  nearly  $18,000. 

The  Western  Maryland  College,  Adrian  College,  and 
the  Kansas  City  University  are  recognized  as  official  insti- 
tutions of  the  highest  grade.  The  first  of  these  has  greatly 
prospered,  and  on  the  basis  of  its  prosperity  it  appeals  to 
the  church  for  endowment  funds,  new  halls,  and  the  sup- 
port of  the  library.  The  report  to  the  conference  of  the 
president  of  Adrian  College  represents  it  as  enlarging  its 
facilities,  and  finding  a  foremost  place  among  institutions 
dedicated  to  sound  learning.  The  Kansas  City  Univer- 
sity has  recently  been  established,   chiefly  by   benefac- 


EMINENT  REPRESENTATIVES.  607 

tions  and  bequests  from  the  late  Dr.  S.  F.  Mather,  of 
that  place.  The  corner-stone  of  the  university  was  laid 
while  the  conference  was  in  session. 

The  statistical  reports  of  the  denomination  show  1550 
ministers,  2267  churches,  179,092  members,  and  4624  pro- 
bationers. 

In  addition  to  Snethen  and  Shinn,  the  founders,  worthy 
of  ranking  among  the  most  eminent  men  of  American 
Methodism,  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  has  produced 
others,  whose  names  will  not  be  omitted  from  the  history 
of  Christianity  in  the  United  States.  Of  these  the  most 
noted  was  Thomas  H.  Stockton,  the  eldest  son  of  William 
S.  Stockton,  the  originator  and  pubHsher  of  the  "  Wesley- 
an  Repository."  He  early  turned  to  literature,  and  while 
young  attempted  successively  several  professions.  At  the 
age  of  twenty-one  he  preached  his  first  sermon,  and  so 
eloquent  was  he  that  his  first  circuit  proved  his  last,  which 
meant  much  in  1830.  He  was  stationed  in  Baltimore,  and 
sat  with  his  father  as  a  member  of  the  convention  which 
formed  the  constitution  and  Discipline  of  the  church.  He 
was  elected  editor  of  the  church  paper,  but  declined. 
The  next  year,  on  account  of  feeble  health,  he  was  re- 
turned missionary  at  large,  and  began  to  publish  his  poems. 
He  became  chaplain  of  the  House  of  Representatives  at 
Washington  in  1835,  where  his  spiritual  influence  was  felt 
and  his  eloquence  increased  his  fame.  He  spent  nine 
years  in  Philadelphia  as  a  pastor,  frequently  preaching  with 
wonderful  fervor  when  increasing  feebleness  compelled 
him  to  sit.  This  was  the  case  in  1859  and  1861  and  the 
intervening  period,  when  he  was  again  elected  chaplain  of 
the  House  of  Representatives.  Though  unable  to  stand, 
he  retained  his  clearness  and  strength  of  voice,  and  his 
prayer  at  the  dedication  of  the  National  Cemetery  at  Get- 
tysburg,  Pa.,  was   so   impressive   as   to   have   a   marked 


6o8  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai-.  xxiii. 

influence  upon  President  Lincoln,  who  was  his  personal 
friend,  and  who  on  good  authority  is  said  to  have  experi- 
enced from  that  hour  a  religious  change.  Horace  Greeley 
and  Mr.  Stockton  were  personal  friends,  and  the  "  Trib- 
une "  in  announcing  his  death  declared  that  during  that 
part  of  his  life  "  when  his  physical  strength  was  sufficient 
for  protracted  pulpit  efforts  he  had  no  peer  as  a  pulpit  ora- 
tor in  this  country."  ^ 

Alexander  Clark,  as  preacher,  platform  speaker,  editor, 
and  prolific  author,  was  favorably  known  on  both  conti- 
nents, and  among  his  nine  works  none  was  more  beautiful 
than  his  "  Gospel  in  the  Trees,"  and  none  more  pathetic 
than  "  Memory's  Tribute  to  the  Life,  Character,  and  Work 
of  the  Rev.  T.  H.  Stockton." 

The  Congregational  Methodist  Church  was  or- 
ganized in  1852  by  seceders  from  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  who  incorporated  therein  the  views 
which  caused  them  to  secede.  Various  churches  were 
organized  in  Georgia,  Mississippi,  and  other  States  in  the 
South,  but  in  1888  the  majority  of  the  churches  and 
ministers  became  Congregationalists.  According  to  the 
census  of  1890  the  original  Congregational  Methodist 
Church  had  8765  members,  214  organizations,  150  church 
edifices,  and  was  represented  in  all  the  Southern  States 
except  Virginia,  West  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  Louisiana. 
This  body  differs  from  Congregationalism  in  admitting  ap- 
peals from  the  local  church  to  a  district  conference,  thence 
to  a  State  conference,  and  thence  to  a  General  Conference. 
Its  pastors  are  settled ;  it  has  class-leaders  and  stewards ; 
and  its  district  conferences  meet  semi-annually.  State  con- 
ferences annually,  and  General  Conferences  once  in  four 
years.  Nearly  one  third  of  its  communicants  are  in  Ala- 
bama. 

1  Bassett,  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church." 


WESLEY  AN  METHODIST  CONNECTION.  609 

From  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  another 
secession  took  place  in  1881  which  formed  the  denomina- 
tion known  as  the  New  Congregational  Methodists. 
Though  a  number  of  the  churches  which  united  with  it 
became  Congregationahsts  in  1888,  two  years  later  the 
census  gave  the  denomination  1059  communicants,  24 
churches,  and  17  edifices  in  Florida  and  Georgia;  the 
average  value  of  these  was  less  than  $250. 

The  Discipline  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  CONNEC- 
TION OR  Church  of  America  differs  in  various  partic- 
ulars from  those  of  other  branches  of  Methodism.  The 
first  section  consists  of  elementary  principles.  The  Arti- 
cles of  Religion  are  twenty-one  in  number,  the  majority 
resembling  those  of  other  Methodist  bodies.  Article  7  is 
upon  relative  duties,  a  succinct  statement  of  the  relations 
of  men  to  one  another  under  the  gospel,  in  their  individ- 
ual, social,  and  religious  capacities.  Articles  13  and  14 
have  been  added  during  the  last  quadrennium.  The 
former  defines  regeneration  in  the  usual  way  ;  the  latter 
deals  with  a  subject  which  has  been  much  debated  in 
Methodism  :  "  Entire  sanctification  is  that  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  by  which  the  child  of  God  is  cleansed  from  all 
inbred  sin  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  subsequent 
to  regeneration,  and  is  wrought  when  the  believer  presents 
himself  a  living  sacrifice,  holy  and  acceptable  unto  God, 
and  is  thus  enabled  through  grace  to  love  God  with  all 
the  heart  and  to  walk  in  his  holy  commandments  blame- 
less." 

Its  regulations  are  stringent  against  connection  with 
secret  societies.  The  terms  of  the  law  are :  "  When  any 
member  of  our  church  shall  join  any  secret  society,  and, 
after  being  labored  with,  refuses  to  withdraw  from  said 
secret  society,  the  person  so  offending  shall  without  trial 
be  declared  withdrawn  from  the  church."     Church  trials 


6lO  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chai-.  xxiii. 

k 

shall  be  in  public  when  the  accused  party  demands  it.  The 
General  Conference  consists  of  an  equal  number  of  minis- 
ters and  laymen,  and  the  editor,  agent,  and  general  mis- 
sionary superintendent,  by  virtue  of  their  respective  offices, 
and  a  layman  for  each  of  these  officials,  elected  by  the  con- 
ferences wherein  they  hold  their  respective  memberships, 
are  also  members.  The  General  Conference  meets  quad- 
rennially and  has  the  usual  powers,  but  is  forbidden  to 
"  contravene  the  maintenance  of  the  itinerant  ministry,  lay 
delegation,  any  of  the  elementary  principles,  the  Articles 
of  Religion,  or  the  general  rules." 

Unstationed  ministers  have  seats  in  the  Annual  Confer- 
ences as  honorary  members,  and  are  allowed  to  speak,  but 
not  to  vote.  These  conferences  have  charge  of  the  minis- 
ters and  churches  within  their  bounds,  but  not  of  the  editor, 
and  hold  that  any  elder  who  promises  to  serve  as  pastor 
a  church  or  congregation  other  than  Wesleyan  Methodist 
shall  be  considered  as  witlidrawn,  unless  he  have  the  con- 
sent of  the  Annual  Conference.  The  Discipline  requires 
that  ministers  and  members  shall  favor  the  use  of  the 
Bible  in  the  public  schools,  and  that  the  name  of  almighty 
God,  as  the  basis  of  authority  in  civil  government,  shall  be 
considered  as  one  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
Wesleyan  Connection  of  America ;  and  it  imposes  upon 
ministers  and  members  the  duty  of  using  all  feasible  means 
to  secure  such  amendments  in  national  and  State  constitu- 
tions so  that  the  name  of  God  shall  be  inserted  in  these 
instruments.  It  implores  its  members  not  to  use  tobacco, 
and  declares  that  it  will  not  receive  as  licentiates  or  minis- 
ters, nor  ordain  or  license  to  preach  or  exhort,  those  who 
are  addicted  to  it. 

The  Book  Concern  of  the  church  is  located  at  Syracuse. 
There  are  published  in  connection  with  it  the  "  Wesleyan 
Methodist,"  a  weekly,  and  a  religious  monthly  magazine. 


EARLIER  HISTORY.  6ll 

the  "  Gospel  Record,"  and  four  Sabbath-school  papers,  one 
of  which  is  devoted  to  temperance.  These  interests  are 
managed  by  a  committee  which  is  composed  of  the  agent, 
editor,  general  missionary  superintendent,  six  elders,  and 
six  laymen,  who  shall  be  elected  by  the  General  Con- 
ference. A  remarkable  provision  is  that  this  committee 
constitutes  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  connectional 
societies,  the  Wesleyan  Publication  Association,  the  Mis- 
sionary Society,  the  Educational  Society,  the  Superan- 
nuated Ministers'  Aid  Society. 

The  second  General  Conference  met  in  New  York  City, 
and  mourned  the  death  of  Orange  Scott,  who  had  died 
the  previous  year.  L.  C.  Matlack  was  elected  agent  and 
Luther  Lee  editor.  At  the  next  General  Conference  Cyrus 
Prindle  presided  and  John  McEldowney  was  elected  sec- 
retary. 

In  the  first  year  of  its  existence  the  Wesleyan  Connec- 
tion opened  the  Dracut  Seminary  near  Lowell,  Mass. 
It  was  continued,  however,  for  but  two  years.  Soon  after- 
ward an  institution  was  established  at  Leoni,  Mich.  This 
was  successful,  and  under  the  presidency  of  the  Rev.  J. 
McEldowney  it  was  removed  to  Adrian,  Mich.,  and  made 
a  college.  Subsequently  it  was  supported  jointly  by  the 
Wesleyans  and  the  Methodist  Protestants,  but  the  abortive 
attempts  to  unite  all  non-Episcopal  Methodists  led  to  the 
withdrawal  of  the  Wesleyan  interests  though  thousands 
of  dollars  of  their  capital  remained  in  it.  Another  college 
was  established  at  Wheaton,  111.,  which  after  an  existence 
of  several  years  invited  the  Congregationalists  to  a  joint 
control. 

From  the  date  of  its  organization  in  1843  to  the  fall  of 
the  next  year  the  membership  of  the  Wesleyan  Connec- 
tion increased  from  six  thousand  to  fifteen  thousand,  and 
in  1875  it  had  no  more.     The  war  against  secret  societies 


6i2  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap,  xxiii. 

excluded  it  from  access  to  many,  and  after  slavery  was 
destroyed  nearly  one  hundred  ministers,  accompanied  by 
thousands  of  communicants,  returned  to  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church. 

The  membership  is  comprehended  in  the  following  con- 
ferences :  Allegheny,  Central  Ohio,  Champlain,  Dakota, 
Illinois,  Indiana,  Iowa,  Kansas,  Lockport,  Miami,  Michi- 
gan, Minnesota,  New  York,  North  Carolina,  North  Michi- 
gan, Rochester,  South  Carolina,  South  Kansas,  South 
Ohio,  Syracuse,  Tennessee,  West  Tennessee,  Willamette, 
and  Wisconsin.  The  number  of  members  reported  in 
1895  is  16,100.  Comparing  this  with  the  report  of  1891 
shows  a  gain  during  the  quadrennium  of  894. 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1895  the  Minnesota  Con- 
ference reported  its  official  action  proposing  to  modify  the 
rules  relating  to  secret  societies,  dress,  and  furniture,  with 
a  motion  of  disloyalty  to  the  present  rules  if  they  were  not 
changed.  The  conference  not  only  refused  to  comply  with 
the  proposition,  but  passed  a  report  declaring  that  "  the 
spirit  of  secretism  is  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  gospel ; 
that  membership  in  any  secret  society,  great  or  small,  is 
incompatible  with  membership  in  the  church  of  Jesus 
Christ ;  that  dependence  for  personal  benefit  upon  any 
promise,  oath,  or  pledge  is  inconsistent  with  the  faith  that 
should  characterize  professed  believers  and  an  open  insult 
to  God  ;  that  fellowship  in  the  societies  is  contrary  to  the 
Word  of  God ;  that  their  existence  is  inimical  to  a  peace- 
ful government,  a  menace  to  the  church,  a  constant  en- 
couragement to  idolatry,  revelry,  looseness  of  morals  ;  that 
to  have  secrecy  as  a  creed  is  in  itself  criminal ;  that  as  be- 
tween all  phases  of  it  the  diflference  in  moral  turpitude  is 
more  one  of  appearance  than  of  fact."  The  conference 
declared  that  on  this  question  as  a  unit  they  would  sink 
or  swim,  rise  or  fall,  survive  or  perish,     With  special  ref- 


THE    PRIMITIVE   3IE77IODISTS..  613 

erence  to  the  threat  of  rebelhon  the  conference  resolved : 
"When  any  number  or  part  of  a  church  belonging  to  the 
Wesleyan  Methodist  Connection  of  America  shall  put  itself 
in  an  attitude  of  rebellion  against  any  of  the  doctrines  or 
principles  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Connection  of  Amer- 
ica, this  General  Conference  hereby  declares  the  loyal  mem- 
ber or  members  of  said  church  to  be  the  Wesleyan  Metho- 
dist Church  of  that  particular  place,  and  duly  entitled  to 
hold  the  church  property."  ^ 

The  origin  of  the  Primitive  Methodists  was  romantic. 
Lorenzo  Dow  went  to  England  in  the  first  decade  of  the 
present  century,  and  introduced  American  camp-meet- 
ings. Some  of  the  Wesleyan  ministers  favored  them,  and 
in  1807  the  Wesleyan  Conference  pronounced  an  official 
judgment  that,  "supposing  such  meetings  to  be  allowable 
in  America,  they  are  highly  improper  in  England,  and  likely 
to  be  productive  of  considerable  mischief,  and  we  disclaim 
all  connection  with  them."  This  deterred  the  traveling 
preachers  from  further  participation.  William  Clough,  a 
local  preacher,  and  Hugh  Bourne,  a  layman  of  weight  and 
one  of  the  trustees  of  a  Wesleyan  church,  through  the 
press  defended  camp-meetings  as  a  valuable  method  of 
evangelizing  the  masses ;  the  Wesleyan  ministers  repHed, 
and  in  the  end  Clough  was  expelled.  Two  years  later  two 
hundred  sympathizers  were  cut  off,  and  the  outdoor  meet- 
ings were  continued  with  the  result  that  the  Primitive 
Methodist  Connection  was  organized  in  18 10.  It  pros- 
pered from  the  beginning.  The  divergence  upon  camp- 
meetings  was  but  a  superficial  indication.  Many  thought 
that  the  Wesleyans  had  become  formal,  that  they  had  re- 
nounced the  principles  of  Whitefield  and  Wesley,  and  had 
lost  their  hold  upon  the  masses ;  the  Primitive  Methodists 

1  "  Minutes  of  the  Fourteenth  Quadrennial  Session  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence "  (Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  Wesleyan  Methodist  Publication  Association). 


6l4  '^'^i^  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxui. 

originally  sought  to  restore  these  things,  and  soon  became 
and  remained,  next  to  the  original  Wesleyan  Connection, 
the  most  numerous  body  in  the  kingdom.  In  England 
their  conference  consists  of  two  laymen  to  one  minister. 
The  church  was  introduced  into  Canada  by  emigrants  from 
England,  and  subsequently  into  the  United  States  by  emi- 
grants from  England  and  Canada.  Hugh  Bourne,  the  real 
founder  of  the  body,  came  to  this  country  in  1844,  forming 
churches  in  different  places.  Its  progress  has  not  been  as 
great  in  the  United  States  as  in  Great  Britain  and  the  col- 
onies. There  are  three  Annual  Conferences,  independent 
in  government,  known  as  the  Eastern,  the  Pennsylvania, 
and  the  Western.  In  1877  the  denomination  had  3332 
members,  scattered  over  eight  States,  and  thirteen  years 
later  it  reported  4764. 

During  its  brief  history  the  FREE  Methodist  Church 
has  furnished  many  illustrations  of  heroic  self-denial,  and 
has  succeeded  in  introducing  its  societies  into  thirty  States. 
Its  Southern  California  Conference  has  been  in  existence 
four  years,  and  is  divided  into  two  districts,  yet  there  are 
but  285  members  in  full  and  28  probationers.  There  are 
10  stationed  preachers,  and  their  entire  receipts  for  support 
were  less  than  $4000.  The  Oregon  and  Washington  Con- 
ference at  the  close  of  ten  years  shows  684  members  and 
1 78  probationers.  The  receipts  of  its  20  pastors  were  less 
than  $5000.  The  Genesee  Conference,  which  includes 
the  region  in  which  the  church  was  founded,  is  thirty-five 
years  old,  and  reports  1 759  members  and  267  probationers, 
and  the  average  income  of  its  pastors  for  their  services  are 
a  little  more  than  ninety  cents  per  day. 

The  gain  in  full  members  was  but  2  from  1890  to  the 
close  of  1894,  the  total  in  the  latter  year  being  22,112. 
There  were,  however,  in  the  statistical  summary  430 
probationers.     Limited  as  are  the  resources  of  this  small 


THE  FREE  METHODIST  CHURCH.  615 

number,  it  endeavors  to  maintain  foreign  missions  in  Africa, 
India,  San  Domingo,  and  Japan.  In  East  Africa  the  mem- 
bers number  24 ;  in  Natal,  South  Africa,  9 ;  in  India  they 
have  I  station,  no  members  reported ;  and  the  property  is 
valued  at  $1150.  The  total  receipts  for  foreign  missions 
for  the  year  ending  October,  1894,  were  $2900,  and  for 
the  preceding  four  years  $20,669. 

The  denomination  has  given  much  attention  to  educa- 
tional development,  and  supports  Greenville  College  in 
Illinois,  Chesbrough  Seminary  in  New  York,  the  Washing- 
ton Springs  Seminary  in  South  Dakota,  the  Evansville 
Seminary  in  Wisconsin,  the  Seattle  Seminary  in  Washing- 
ton, the  Spring  Arbor  Seminary  in  Jackson,  Mich.,  the 
Wessington  Springs  Seminary  in  South  Dakota,  and  the 
Neosho  Rapids  Seminary  in  Kansas. 

Like  the  Wesleyan  Connection  of  America,  the  Free 
Methodists  expel  members  who  join  and  continue  in  any 
society  which  requires  an  oath,  an  affirmation,  or  a  promise 
of  secrecy  as  a  condition  of  membership.  It  prohibits 
the  use  of  intoxicating  wine  in  celebrating  the  Lord's 
Supper,  and  by  a  specific  resolution  forbids  the  wearing 
of  gold  wedding-rings. 

Besides  these  there  are  twelve  independent  organizations 
in  Maryland,  one  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  one  in 
Tennessee,  the  total  membership  being  2500.  Some  of 
them  were  founded  by  laymen  of  wealth,  and  their  church 
property  is  valued  at  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million 
dollars. 

The  United  Brethren  in  Christ  is  supposed  by 
many  to  be  a  branch  of  American  Methodism.  The  asso- 
ciation between  their  founders  and  the  similarity  of  their 
origin  have  often  been  noted.  When  Asbury  was  con- 
secrated to  the  office  of  bishop,  William  Otterbein,  who 
more  than  any  other  deserves  the  name  of  the  founder  of 


6l6  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxm. 

the  United  Brethren,  was  requested  by  Asbury  to  assist  in 
the  service,  and  the  affectionate  relation  continues  between 
all  branches  of  Methodism  and  the  United  Brethren,  though 
the  body  does  not  come  within  the  scope  of  this  work. 
It  is  treated  fully  and  luminously  by  D.  Berger,  D.D., 
in  volume  xii.  of  the  American  Church  History  Series. 

Albright,  the  founder  of  the  Evangelical  Associa- 
tion, trained  a  Lutheran,  converted  under  Reagel,  an  in- 
dependent preacher,  declared  his  adherence  to  the  Metho- 
dists, but  under  the  influence  of  a  divine  call  left  the  body. 
Much  similarity  exists  between  Methodism  and  the  Evan- 
gelical Association,  but  it  is  in  every  sense  of  the  word 
a  distinct  organization,  deriving  its  original  impulse  from 
another  source.^ 

1  See  volume  xii.,  American  Church  History  Series,  "  Evangelical  Associ- 
ation," by  Samuel  P.  Spreng. 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

SALIENT    POINTS    IN    THE    PROGRESS    OF    THE     METHO- 
DIST   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH,    SOUTH. 

The  first  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  South,  vigorously  discussed,  from  its  point  of 
view,  the  action  of  the  authorities  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  and  particularly  the  course  pursued  by  the 
official  organs  at  New  York  and  Cincinnati,  which,  it  de- 
clared, "  attacked  the  provisions  of  the  Plan  of  Separation 
with  an  emphatic  and  unscrupulous  hostility.  With  an 
unflinching  purpose  worthy  of  a  better  cause  they  have  de- 
nounced it  as  unconstitutional ;  contemned  the  authority 
which  enacted  it ;  advised  resistance  to  it ;  pledged  char- 
acter, influence,  and  religion  for  its  overthrow.  .  .  .  The 
terms  'schismatics,'  '  disorganizers,'  and  *  seceders  '  have 
become  stereotyped  phrases  of  reproach,  to  the  detriment 
not  only  of  the  spirit  and  unity  of  good  brotherhood  be- 
tween the  two  great  divisions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
family,  but  also  of  the  character  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence which  by  so  great  a  majority  of  votes  adopted  the 
plan."  It  further  declared  entirely  groundless  the  charges 
against  Bishops  Soule  and  Andrew  of  violating  the  plan, 
restating  the  general  position  of  the  Southern  church  upon 
the  questions  involved  in  the  slavery  controversy. 

The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Temperance  was  an 

617 


6l8  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxiv. 

uncompromising  condemnation  of  intemperance  and  the 
liquor  traffic/  but  the  body  refused  to  adopt  the  original 
resolution,  "  That,  in  the  judgment  of  this  General  Con- 
ference, the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors, 
or  their  use  as  a  beverage,  is  inconsistent  with  the  moral 
and  religious  character  of  a  Methodist."  The  resolution 
actually  passed  was,  "  That  we  recommend  the  members 
of  our  church  to  unite  their  efforts  in  promoting  the  great 
temperance  reformation  now_  in  successful  operation." 

The  Committee  on  Missions,  of  which  Capers  was  chair- 
man, provided  that,  where  separate  accommodations  for 
ministering  to  the  colored  people  do  not  exist,  they  should 
be  included  in  the  same  pastoral  charge  with  the  whites, 
both  classes  forming  one  congregation  with  separate  sit- 
tings, as  the  practice  usually  had  been.  At  camp-meetings 
colored  people  were  to  be  furnished  with  accommodations 
at  the  back  of  the  stand  for  the  holding  of  prayer-meeting, 
while  the  whites  w^ould  proceed  with  their  prayer-meeting 
in  front.  Planters,  with  the  consent  of  the  Quarterly  Con- 
ference, who  did  not  think  the  general  scheme  sufficient 
for  the  instruction  of  their  people,  were  authorized  to  em- 
ploy a  local  preacher  to  serve  them  at  their  plantations, 
provided' the  same  were  done  at  hours  which  did  not  inter- 
fere with  the  regular  public  worship. 

Transylvania  University,  at  Lexington,  Ky.,  was  prac- 
tically adopted  by  the  denomination.  The  Nashville,  the 
Southern,  and  the  Richmond  "  Christian  Advocates  "  were 
made  official.  John  B.  McFerrin  was  elected  editor  of  the 
Nashville,  William  M.  Wightman  of  the  Southern,  and 
Leroy  M.  Lee  of  the  Richmond  "  Christian  Advocate  "  ; 
assistant  editors  were  also  elected.  H.  B.  Bascom,  by  a 
rising  and  unanimous  vote,  was  made  editor  of  the  "  Quar- 
terly Review,"  and  Lovick  Pierce  was  delegated  to  visit 
1  "  Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1846,"  pp.  59-61. 


SECOND    GENERAL    CONFERENCE.  619 

the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  Pittsburg. 

A  pastoral  address  was  issued,  in  which  the  subject  of 
slavery  occupied  a  large  place,  the  position  being  taken 
that,  instead  of  the  least  departure  from  the  law  of  the 
church  respecting  slavery,  the  Southern  conferences  had 
"  strictly  adhered  to  it  throughout  the  whole  struggle," 
and  that,  while  they  "  did  not  claim  to  be  better,  more 
devoted,  more  worthy  of  imitation  as  Christians  than 
[their]  brethren  of  the  North,  in  everything  essential, 
everything  peculiar  to  Methodism  [they]  believed  the  im- 
partial evidence  of  history  would  be  that  [they]  had  been 
not  only  equal,  but,  in  fact,  even  uniquely  loyal  and  true 
.to  the  duties  and  hopes  of  our  end  and  calling  as  Ameri- 
can Wesleyan  Methodists."  ^ 

The  second  General  Conference  was  held  in  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  in  April,  1850,  and  after  the  organization  Bishop 
Andrew  read  the  episcopal  address,  which  bristled  with 
criticisms  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  particularly  with  reference  to  its  treatment  of 
Lovick  Pierce.  On  this  subject  indignation  in  expression 
took  the  form  of  irony :  "  The  Plan  of  Separation  was  re- 
pudiated ;  the  Southern  claim  to  any  portion  of  the  Book 
Concern  was  denied ;  and  the  very  men  who  from  sheer 
hatred  to  slavery  drove  the  South  into  separation  proved 
their  sincerity  and  consistency  by  not  only  retaining  all 
the  slave-holding  members  already  under  their  charge, 
but  in  making  arrangements  to  gather  as  many  more  into 
the  fold  as  practicable." 

It  was  at  this  conference  that  Henry  B.  Bascom,  whose 
career  had  steadily  gathered  a  more  brilliant  luster,  was 
elected  bishop. 

The  important  decision  was  made  that  it  is  inconsistent 

1  "Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1846,"  pp.  110-112. 


620  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxiv. 

with  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  church  to  depose 
from  the  ministry  any  one  convicted  of  immoral  conduct 
without,  at  the  same  time  and  by  the  same  act,  expel- 
ling him  from  the  church ;  and  that  "  the  only  legal  deci- 
sions recognized  by  the  Discipline  in  case  of  trial  for  im- 
moral conduct  are  acquittal,  suspension,  and  expulsion."  ^ 
This  action  was  suggested  by  the  case  of  a  minister  who 
had  indulged  in  the  "  intemperate  and  improper  use  of 
ardent  spirits,  and  admitted  himself  to  have  been  of  set 
purpose  drinking  in  the  city  of  Richmond."  The  Annual 
Conference  had  merely  deprived  him  of  authority  to  ex- 
ercise the  functions  of  the  Christian  ministry,  and  recorded, 
in  answer  to  the  question,  "  Who  have  been  expelled  from 

the  connection?"  "No  one;  S B has  been  put 

out  of  the  ministry." 

It  was  decided  that  the  interests  of  Transylvania  Uni- 
versity could  be  more  advantageously  secured  if  it  were 
managed  by  the  Kentucky  and  Louisville  Annual  Confer- 
ences than  by  a  continuance  of  the  existing  relations,  under 
which  its  supervision  devolved  upon  the  General  Confer- 
ence. Edmund  W.  Sehon  was  elected  missionary  secre- 
tary, Moses  M.  Henkle,  editor  of  the  "  Ladies'  Compan- 
ion," Samuel  A.  Latta  of  the  "  Methodist  Expositor," 
David  S.  Doggett  of  the  "  Quarterly  Review,"  Chauncey 
Richardson  of  the  "  Texas  Wesleyan  Banner,"  and  Samuel 
Patton  of  the  "  Methodist  Episcopalian." 

The  task  of  entertaining  the  third  General  Conference, 
which  began  May  i,  1854,  devolved  upon  the  city  of 
Columbus,  Ga.  The  death  of  Bascom  in  his  first  year  as 
a  bishop,  in  the  maturity  of  his  faculties,  influence,  and 
usefulness,  was  deplored.  The  Book  Concern  was  per- 
manently located  at  Nashville.  The  bishops  were  instructed 
to  visit  the  Indian  and  colored  missions,  and  in  order  that 
1  '!  Journal  of  the  General  Conference,"  p.  207. 


ELECTION  OF  PIERCE,  EARLY,  AND  KAVANAUGH.    621 

they  might  be  able  to  do  this  and  perform  other  important 
functions,  it  was  ordered  that  there  be  three  additional 
bishops.  On  the  first  ballot  George  F.  Pierce,  of  Georgia, 
was  elected.  He  was  the  son  of  Lovick  Pierce,  and  had 
been  a  minister  twenty-three  years,  during  which  time  he 
had  filled  circuits  and  stations,  had  been  presiding  elder, 
president  of  Georgia  Female  College,  and  for  some  years 
prior  to  his  election  president  of  Emory  College.  He  was 
an  extraordinary  preacher,  having  every  physical,  mental, 
emotional,  and  moral  element  necessary  to  the  highest 
oratory. 

The  next  chosen  was  John  Early,  who  was  sixty-eight 
years  old  and  had  been  a  minister  forty-seven  years.  As 
a  revivalist,  administrator,  and  organizer  he  seemed  to 
have  endless  resources  of  practical  wisdom,  and  was  the 
first  book-agent  appointed  after  the  organization  of  the 
church.  On  one  of  his  circuits  he  received  five  hundred 
members  into  the  church,  and  at  the  camp-meeting  in 
Prince  Edward  County,  Virginia,  under  his  charge,  one 
thousand  persons  were  converted  in  seven  days. 

Hubbard  H.  Kavanaugh,  of  Kentucky,  was  the  third 
elected.  He  was  fifty-two  years  of  age,  and  had  been  a 
minister  twenty-nine  years,  filling  the  most  important  sta- 
tions in  the  State,  and  was  a  connecting  link  with  the  earliest 
times,  having  been  ordained  by  Bishops  McKendree  and 
Roberts.  He  was  an  eloquent  preacher,  majestic  when  at 
his  best,  not  always  systematic,  but,  like  Bramwell  of 
England,  if  he  sometimes  seemed  to  wander,  it  was  al- 
ways "  from  the  text  to  the  heart." 

The  church  was  now  in  receipt  of  the  portion  of  the 
funds  of  the  Book  Concern  assigned  to  it  by  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  was  able  to  appropriate  seventy-five  thousand 
dollars  to  the  erection  of  suitable  buildings. 

Th^  conference  felicitated  itself  on  the  large  number 


622  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxiv. 

of  educational  institutions  under  its  patronage.  Among 
them  were  38  schools,  seminaries,  and  colleges  exclusively- 
devoted  to  females,  23  for  males,  and  6  coeducation  insti- 
tutions. Among  these  7  were  in  the  Indian  Mission  Con- 
ference, having  425  pupils,  of  whom  100  were  in  manual- 
labor  schools.  The  most  important  colleges  for  men  were 
Randolph  Macon,  La  Grange,  Wofford,  Emory,  and 
Emory  and  Henry,  then  sixteen  years  old. 

The  report  of  the  commissioners  appointed  to  settle 
disputes  concerning  the  division  of  the  property  of  the 
Book  Concern  expressed  gratitude  for  the  kind  offices  of 
Judge  McLean,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  who  attempted  the  delicate  office  of  mediator  and 
presided  at  a  joint  meeting  of  the  commissioners.  Finally 
they  said  :  "  We  should  not  do  justice  to  our  feelings  if  we 
forbore  to  express  our  great  satisfaction  with  the  Christian 
courtesy  and  kindness  which  marked  the  intercourse  of 
the  Northern  commissioners  and  agents  in  negotiating  the 
final  settlement  of  the  New  York  controversy.  They  met 
us  on  the  platform  of  candor,  liberality,  and  strict  jus- 
tice. .  .  .  Nor  was  there  a  feeling  or  a  word,  so  far  as  we 
can  judge,  which  in  a  dying  hour  either  party  would  wish 
to  blot  from  the  pages  of  memory."  They  reported  less 
harmony  with  the  representatives  of  the  Cincinnati  prop- 
erty, and  said  that  all  the  honorable  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  were  present  at  the  hearing  of  the  case  except  Judge 
McLean,  who,  from  motives  of  delicacy,  declined  to  sit ; 
and  the  commissioners  reported  the  decree  of  the  Supreme 
Court  in  their  favor  and  apprised  the  conference  that  some 
years  would  be  required  to  complete  the  settlement. 

The  conference  was  encouraged  by  the  increase  during 
the  last  four  years,  the  net  gain  being  83,047,  making  the 
membership  603,303. 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1858,  which  sat  in  the 


PROPOSED   IMPROVEMENTS.  623 

hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Nashville,  Tenn., 
all  the  living  bishops,  Soule,  Andrew,  Paine,  Pierce,  Early, 
and  Kavanaugh,  were  present.  Since  the  last  conference 
the  beloved  William  Capers  had  died  in  his  sixty-fifth  year. 
He  was  of  national  repute  as  an  orator  and  had  traveled 
abroad,  was  a  constant  reader  of  a  few  of  the  best  books  of 
general  and  theological  literature,  and  had  trained  himself 
to  rapid  mental  combination — to  the  readiness  and  alertness 
which  come  from  concentrated  reflection.  He  used  neither 
manuscript  nor  brief,  employed  no  formal  divisions,  "  yet 
his  delivery  was  refined,  graceful,  and  self- restrained."! 
On  special  occasions  his  word  was  attended  with  over- 
whelming power,  whether  in  consolation  or  warning.  The 
.  conference  declared  that  his  greatest  honor  would  be  that 
of  founder  of  missions  to  the  blacks  in  his  native  State. 

The  bishops  reviewed  the  work  in  general,  giving  par- 
ticular attention  to  those  points  where  it  came  in  contact 
with  that  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  They  be- 
sought the  conference  to  order  that  there  should  be  no 
more  weekly  papers  published  than  the  church  could  sup- 
port creditably,  urged  the  more  adequate  endowment  of 
Hterary  institutions,  deprecated  the  agitation  of  the  sub- 
ject of  lay  delegation,  enforced  the  connectional  principle, 
and  besought  the  conference,  when  electing  men  to  fill 
the  various  offices  of  the  church,  not  to  consider  from 
what  part  of  the  work  they  came.  On  this  subject  their 
address  contains  a  passage  admonitory  to  all  Christian 
churches :  "  Take,  for  example,  the  election  of  men  to  fill 
the  various  offices  of  the  church.  What  should  be  the 
question  asked  in  reference  to  the  candidate  proposed? 
Should  it  not  be,  '  Is  he  well  qualified  for  the  work  to 
which  we  design  to  call  him  ?  '  Of  what  conceivable  im- 
portance can  it  be  where  he  was  born  or  to  what  confer- 

1  Sketch  by  Bishop  Wightman. 


624  '^'^^^'-     '^^^■■'■I'Ji^l^^-'^'J'-"^-  [ClIAl'.   XXIV. 

ence  he  belongs?  It  seems  to  us  the  only  question 
should  be,  '  Is  he  the  man  best  fitted  for  the  work?  '  and 
if  so,  that  should  determine  our  action.  But  if,  departing 
from  this  straightforward  principle,  we  choose  men  to  fill 
important  positions  in  the  church  not  because  they  are 
well  qualified  for  the  work,  but  because  they  happen  to 
belong  to  certain  sections  of  the  church,  shall  we  not  in- 
troduce incompetency  and  confusion  into  the  church  of 
God,  and  bring  our  ecclesiastical  elections  into  disgraceful 
conformity  with  the  contemptible  trickery  and  demagogism 
which  but  too  frequently  disgrace  our  political  elections ?"i 
The  conference  recommended  to  the  church  the  support 
of  a  plan  to  erect  a  more  spacious  edifice  in  the  federal 
capital  than  the  little  band  of  Southern  Methodists  there 
were  able  to  compass.  The  Alabama  Conference,  Decem- 
ber 15,  1856,  had  by  memorial  urged  the  General  Confer- 
ence to  expunge  from  the  General  Rules  the  following,  to 
wit,  "  The  buying  and  selling  of  men,  women,  and  children 
with  an  intention  to  enslave  them,"  and  had  requested 
the  bishops  to  pass  the  resolution  around  to  all  the  An- 
nual Conferences.  This  had  been  done,  with  the  result 
that  1 1 60  had  voted  to  concur,  and  31 1  not  to  do  so. 
There  was  therefore  a  surplus  over  the  constitutional  ma- 
jority of  three  fourths;  but  three  of  the  conferences,  the 
Pacific,  Kansas  Mission,  and  Indian  Mission,  had  had  no 
opportunity  of  voting  on  the  resolution.  This  occasioned 
much  debate,  as  some  wished  to  proceed  without  regard 
to  this  informality.  After  the  committee  to  which  the 
subject  was  referred  had  reported,  a  special  committee  of 
six  was  ordered,  to  which  the  resolutions,  amendments, 
and  the  entire  question  were  committed.  The  report  of 
that  committee,  as  adopted  on  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and 
forty-one  yeas  to  seven  nays,  is  as  follows : 

1  "  Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1858,"  p.  401. 


EXPUNGING    GENERAL   RULE    ON  SLAVERY.         625 

"  The  committee  appointed  to  report  a  preamble  and 
resolutions  in  regard  to  the  expunction  of  the  rule  in  the 
General  Rules  forbidding  '  the  buying  and  selling  of  men, 
women,  and  children  with  an  intention  to  enslave  them,' 
beg  leave  to  report  the  following  as  the  result  of  their 
deliberations : 

"  Whereas,  The  rule  in  the  General  Rules  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  forbidding  '  the  buy- 
ing and  selling  of  men,  women,  and  children  with  an  in- 
tention to  enslave  them '  is  ambiguous  in  its  phraseology 
and  liable  to  be  construed  as  antagonistic  to  the  institu- 
tion of  slavery,  in  regard  to  which  the  church  has  no  right 
to  meddle,  except  in  enforcing  the  duties  of  masters  and 
servants  as  set  forth  in  the  Holy  Scriptures ;  and  WHERE- 
AS, A  strong  desire  for  the  expunction  of  said  rule  has 
been  expressed  in  nearly  all  parts  of  our  ecclesiastical 
connection ;  therefore, 

^'Resolved,  i.  By  the  delegates  of  the  Annual  Confer- 
ences of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  in  Gen- 
eral Conference  assembled,  that  the  rule  forbidding  *  the 
buying  and  selling  of  men,  women,  and  children  with  an 
intention  to  enslave  them  '  be  expunged  from  the  General 
Rules  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

**  Resolved,  2.  That,  in  adopting  the  foregoing  resolu- 
tion, this  conference  expresses  no  opinion  in  regard  to 
the  African  slave-trade,  to  which  the  rule  in  question  has 
been  *  understood  '  to  refer. 

"  Resolved,  3.  That  the  bishops  or  others  presiding  in 
the  Annual  Conferences  be,  and  are  hereby,  instructed  to 
lay  the  foregoing  resolutions  before  each  of  the  Annual 
Conferences  at  their  next  ensuing  sessions  for  their  con- 
current action. 

"  Resolved,  4.  That  the  president  of  each  Annual  Con- 
ference shall  be  required,  as  soon  as  possible  after  the  ad- 


626  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxiv. 

journment  of  the  conference,  to  report  to  the  book-editor 
the  vote  on  the  resolution  to  expunge  the  rule  in  ques- 
tion ;  and  when  the  book-editor  shall  have  received  returns 
from  all  the  Annual  Conferences  voting  on  the  said  reso- 
lution, he  shall  lay  the  information  before  one  of  the  bish- 
ops;  and  if  it  shall  be  found  that  there  is  a  concurrence 
of  three  fourths  of  all  the  members  of  the  Annual  Con- 
ferences present  and  voting  on  the  resolution  in  favor  of 
the  expunging  of  the  rule,  the  bishop  shall  direct  the  book- 
editor  to  expunge  it  accordingly. 

"  Resolved,  5.  That  if  any  Annual  Conference«or  Con- 
ferences refuse  or  neglect  to  vote  on  the  aforesaid  resolu- 
tion, the  members  of  such  conference  or  conferences  shall 
not  be  counted  for  or  against  the  expunging  of  the  rule. 

"  Resolved,  6.  That  the  publication  of  the  foregoing 
preamble  and  resolutions  in  the  church  papers  shall  be 
considered  a  sufficient  notification  of  the  action  of  this 
conference  in  the  premises. 

"  Resolved,  7.  That  the  bishops  are  respectfully  re- 
quested to  set  forth  in  the  pastoral  address  the  platform 
occupied  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  on 
the  relation  of  masters  and  servants,  agreeably  to  the  prin- 
ciple contained  in  the  foregoing  preamble  and  resolutions. 

"  All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

"  Thomas  O.  Summers,  Chairman. 

Nashville,  May  18,  1858.1 

In  the  pastoral  address  the  conference  presents  for  the 
purpose  of  justifying  this  action  the  following  views: 
After  the  Southern  churches  had  been  organized  in  one 
denomination  the  Discipline  still  contained  the  rule  and 
the  section  on  slavery.  The  section  was  anomalous. 
While  denouncing  slavery  as  an  evil,  and  pledging  the 

1  "Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  ,"  p.         . 


A    QUESTION  OF  COURTESY.  627 

church  to  its  extirpation,  it  provided  by  statute  for  its 
allowance  and  perpetuation.  Four  years  before  the  con- 
ference had  abolished  the  section,  but  the  rule  still  re- 
mained. Its  removal  they  believed  to  be  demanded  by 
loyalty  as  citizens  under  the  Constitution  of  the  country, 
by  consistency,  by  fidelity  to  the  people  whom  they  served 
and  the  institutions  in  which  they  lived ;  that  the  removal 
would  place  them  upon  a  Scriptural  basis ;  they  could  then 
carry  out  the  ideas  taught  by  St.  Paul ;  they  could  circu- 
late the  Discipline  without  note  or  comment ;  they  would 
then  have  surrendered  to  Caesar  the  things  which  are  his, 
and  could  hold  themselves  "debtors  to  the  wise  and  the 
unwise,  the  bond  and  the  free,"  and,  unchallenged  by  the 
jealous  and  distrustful,  "preach  Christ  alike  to  the  master 
and  the  servant,  secure  in  the  confidence  and  affection  of 
the  one  and  the  other."  ^ 

The  Committee  on  Episcopacy  reported  serious  com- 
plaints against  Bishop  Early,  to  which  he  replied  at  length. 
The  charges  were  that  "  in  the  conference  and  station'ng- 
room  he  had  been  too  arbitrary  and  discourteous  to  some 
of  the  preachers."  Resolutions  were  offered,  recognizing 
his  advanced  age  and  increasing  infirmities,  approving  his 
character,  and  releasing  him  from  the  duties  of  episcopal 
visitation.  The  conference  finally  passed  these  resolu- 
tions :  "  That,  after  a  patient  consideration  of  the  complaints 
made  against  Bishop  Early,  the  conference  deeply  regrets 
that  there  is  any  ground  for  said  complaints  ;  nevertheless, 
inasmuch  as  the  complaints  do  not  impeach  the  purity  of 
his  character  nor  his  fealty  to  the  church,  but  refer  to  the 
manner  of  his  administration ;  and,  further,  in  view  of  the 
explanation  made  by  Bishop  Early,  and  his  expressed 
willingness  to  guard  against  giving  offense  in  the  future 
on  the  point  above  referred  to,  his  character  do  now  pass. 

1  "Journal  of  the  General  Conference  of  1858,"  pp.  585,  586. 


628  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxiv. 

Also,  that  in  the  action  had  in  the  case  of  Bishop  Early 
this  conference  does  explicitly  and  emphatically  disavow 
any  intention  of  interfering  with  the  episcopal  prerogative 
in  fixing  the  appointments  of  the  preachers." 

The  publishing  department  of  church  work  was 
thoroughly  organized  on  the  report  of  a  committee  of 
which  J.  B.  McFerrin  was  chairman.  The  fees  which  the 
counsel  received  for  prosecuting  the  claims  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  South,  as  stated  in  the  report  of 
the  commissioners,  are  interesting  as  indicating  what  at 
that  time  was  demanded  by  eminent  counsel.  Daniel 
Lord  and  Reverdy  Johnson  were  paid  $2500  each.  This 
was  for  services  before  the  Court  of  the  United  States 
for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York.  The  latter,  for 
arguing  the  Ohio  case,  demanded  $4000,  which  he  sub- 
sequently reduced  to  $3000 ;  but  the  chairman  of  the 
board  of  commissioners  would  not  consent  to  this,  and 
Mr.  Johnson  avowed  his  purpose  to  begin  a  suit.-^ 

McFerrin  was  elected  agent  of  the  Book  Concern, 
H.  N.  McTyeire  taking  the  place  which  this  election  made 
vacant  as  editor  of  the  Nashville  "  Christian  Advocate." 
O.  P.  Fitzgerald  was  elected  editor  of  the  "  Pacific  Meth- 
odist." The  increase  in  membership  was  greater  even 
than  that  which  gladdened  the  preceding  conference,  for 
it  amounted  to  95,862.  When  the  conference  balloted 
upon  the  place  of  holding  the  next  session.  New  Orleans 
received  a  majority  of  votes ;  April  i,  1862,  was  chosen  as 
the  time.2  The  church  continued  to  increase,  having  a 
membership  in  i860  of  757,209,  of  which  207,776  were 

1  For  the  consultations,  briefs,  preparation  for,  and  argument  before  the 
United  States  Circuit  Court  tlie  Methodist  Book  Concern  paid  Rufus  Choate 
and  George  Wood  each  $2000,  and  K.  L.  Fancher  $1000;  the  last-named 
was  paid  an  additional  sum  for  subsequently  arguing  against  an  appeal  as  to 
the  sum  taken  by  Daniel  Lord  for  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
from  the  decision  of  a  Master. 

2  "  Journal,"  p.  548. 


THE   "HORRID    VISAGE    OE    WAR:'  629 

colored.  The  number  of  traveling  preachers  was  2784, 
including  those  upon  trial. ^ 

The  Civil  War  began  within  a  few  months,  in  which 
twenty-one  hundred  and  ten  battles  were  fought,  the  large 
majority  occurring  upon  territory  covered  by  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  South.-  McTyeire  says  that  "  the 
distresses  of  war  were  intensified  by  the  impoverishment 

and    confusion    which    follow    invasion    and    defeat 

Hundreds  of  churches  were  burned,  or  dismantled  by  use 
as  hospitals,  warehouses,  or  stables.  College  endowments 
were  swept  away  and  the  buildings  abandoned.  Annual 
Conferences  met  irregularly  or  in  fragments ;  the  General 
Conference  of  1862  was  not  held,  and  the  whole  order  of 
the  itinerancy  was  interrupted  ;  the  church  press  was  silent, 
and  many  of  the  most  liberal  supporters  of  the  church  and 
its  institutions  were  reduced  to  abject  want."^  The  pub- 
lishing-house had  been  seized  by  military  officers  and  put 
into  commission  as  a  United  States  printing-office.  The 
missionaries  in  China  had  been  cut  off  from  communica- 
tion with  the  home  board.  McTyeire  pays  a  tribute  of 
gratitude  to  the  treasurer  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  indorsing  the  drafts  in  the 
hands  of  the  home  board,  saying  that  "  whatever  mitigates 
the  logic  of  war  is  a  charity  to  the  human  race."^ 

By  1866  the  number  of  traveling  preachers  was  reduced 
to  2488,  and  colored  members  to  48,742,  and  the  Indian 
Mission  work,  that  in  i860  had  4160  members,  was  re- 
duced to  701.^  The  Indian  Territory  was  overrun  by  the 
troops,  and,  many  of  the  chiefs  having  enlisted  under  the 
Confederate  banner,  their  tribes  and  families  were  dis- 

1  "  Year-book  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  for  1896." 

2  Official  reports  of  Surgeon-General  Barnes. 

3  McTyeire's  "  History  of  Methodism,"  p.  664. 

4  Ibid.,  p.  665. 

5  "  Year-book  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  for  1896." 


630  THE   IME'JJJOniSTS.  [CnAi'.  XXIV. 

persed.  In  1865,  after  the  close  of  the  war,  the  bishops 
issued  an  address  declaring  that,  "  whatever  banner  had 
fallen  or  been  folded  up,  that  of  Southern  Methodism  was 
yet  unfurled  ;  whatever  cause  had  been  lost,  that  of  South- 
ern Methodism  survived."^ 

The  General  Conference  of  1866,  which  had  been  ap- 
pointed to  meet  in  New  Orleans,  April,  1862,  convened 
there  April  4,  1866.  The  first  official  action  of  impor- 
tance was  the  passage  of  this  resolution:  "That  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
fully  approves  the  action  of  Bishop  Early  in  admitting  the 
Baltimore  Annual  Conference  into  the  fellowship  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South  ;  and  that  we  cordially 
receive  and  recognize  the  delegates  elected  from  that  con- 
ference as  members  of  the  General  Conference  of  said 
church,  now  in  session  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans." 

The  bishops  officially  reported  that  they  were  com- 
pelled in  the  early  part  of  the  war  to  confine  their  episco- 
pal visitations  to  the  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
though  Bishop  Kavanaugh,  who  lived  within  the  Federal 
lines,  visited  the  Missouri,  the  St.  Louis,  and  the  two  Ken- 
tucky conferences,  also  the  California.  They  report  that, 
with  few  exceptions,  the  Annual  Conferences  had  been 
held;  ihat,  however,  extraordinary  exigencies  required 
them  to  depart  from  the  strict  letter  of  the  law ;  that  the 
missionary  work  had  been  well-nigh  ruined;  that  the  re- 
organization of  the  Book  Concern  was  necessary  ;  and  that 
the  condition  of  the  periodical  press  was  such  that  it  would 
be  wiser  to  unite  conferences  in  the  publication  of  a 
smaller  number,  which  could  thus  be  better  supported 
and  further  improved. 

The  conference,  in  harmony  with  the  precedents  of  early 

1  McTyeire,  p.  666. 


ATTEMPT   TO   CHANGE  NAME   OF  CHURCH.  63 1 

Episcopal  Methodism,  resolved  itself  into  a  committee  of 
the  whole,  but  placed  a  bishop  in  the  chair.  Bishop  Andrew, 
at  his  own  request,  was  released  from  active  participation 
in  the  official  responsibilities  of  the  episcopal  office. 

On  motion  of  Holland  N.  McTyeire,  it  was  resolved,  on 
an  aye  and  no  vote  of  ninety-five  to  fifty,  "That  it  is  the 
sense  of  this  General  Conference  that  lay  representation 
be  introduced  into  the  Annual  and  General  Conferences." 
A  committee  of  one  from  each  delegation  was  appointed 
to  prepare  and  report  plan.  William  M.  Wightman, 
Enoch  M.  Marvin,  David  S.  Doggett,  and  Holland  N. 
McTyeire  were  elected  bishops,  A.  H.  Redford,  book- 
agent,  I.  G.  John,  editor  of  the  Texas,  W.  C.  Johnson  of 
the  Memphis  and  the  Arkansas,  D.  R.  McAnally  of  the 
St.  Louis,  J.  E.  Cobb  of  the  Arkansas,  E.  H.  Myers  of  the 
"  Southern  Christian  Advocate,"  and  O.  P.  Fitzgerald  of 
the  "  Christian  Spectator." 

Attempts  were  made  to  change  the  name  of  the  church, 
"  Episcopal  Methodist  "  being  proposed  by  J.  B.  McFerrin 
and  C.  F.  Deems,  and  "  Methodist  "  by  E.  H.  Myers.  A 
motion  to  change  the  name  of  the  church  with  an  unfilled 
blank  passed.  It  was  decided  that  no  change  should  be 
made.  Among  the  names  voted  for  were  "  Methodist 
Church,"  "  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America," 
"  Southern  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  "  Southern 
Methodist  Church,"  '' Wesleyan  Episcopal  Church," 
"  Episcopal  Methodist  Church,"  "  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,"  "  Methodist  Church,  South."  At  one  stage  the 
"  Methodist  Church  "  had  one  hundred  and  eleven  votes 
to  twenty-one.  The  "  Episcopal  Methodist  Church  "  was 
adopted  by  ayes  and  noes  of  eighty-six  to  thirty-eight. 

The  conference  adopted  the  report  of  the  committee  on 
changes  of  economy,  and  removed  all  time  limit  relating 


632  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxiv. 

to  a  term  of  service  in  any  one  appointment.  It  was 
ordered  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  conference  that  "  the 
style  and  title  of  the  church  should  be  the  '  Episcopal 
Methodist  Church,'  provided  that  three  fourths  of  the 
members  of  the  Annual  Conferences  present  and  voting 
shall  have  concurred  in  the  aforesaid  ordinance."  The 
conference  resolved,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  vote  of 
the  General  Conference  on  the  extension  of  the  pastoral 
term  was  nearly  equally  divided,  and  the  change  proposed 
was  one  fraught  with  vital  consequences,  that  the  action 
repealing  the  law  of  limitation  and  leaving  the  term  of  the 
pastorate  to  the  discretion  of  the  appointing  power  should 
not  take  effect  unless  approved  by  a  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Annual  Conferences  present  and  voting. 

The  plan  of  lay  representation  submitted  to  the  confer- 
ences provided  that  four  laymen,  one  of  whom  might  be  a 
local  preacher,  should  be  chosen  annually  as  representa- 
tives to  the  Annual  Conference  from  each  presiding 
elder's  district  by  the  district  stewards,  or  in  such  other 
manner  as  the  Annual  Conference  may  direct,  and  that 
they  should  participate  in  all  business  of  the  conference 
except  such  as  involved  ministerial  character  and  relations. 
The  representatives  must  be  twenty-five  years  of  age  and 
have  been  for  six  preceding  years  members  of  the  church. 

The  number  of  lay  and  clerical  representatives  should  be 
equal  in  the  General  Conference,  and  the  lay  representa- 
tives were  to  be  elected  by  the  lay  members  of  the  An- 
nual Conference.  No  conference  should  be  denied  the 
privilege  of  two  lay  delegates.  Ministers  and  laymen 
should  deliberate  in  one  body,  but  on  a  call  of  one  fifth  of 
the  members  the  lay  and  clerical  representatives  should 
vote  separately.  The  resolutions  submitting  to  the  An- 
nual Conferences  the  action  repealing  the  law  of  limitation 
were  reconsidered  and  laid  on  the  table.      It  was  then  re- 


RADICAL  ALTERATIONS.  633 

solved,  by  a  vote  of  seventy-two  to  forty-nine,  to  extend 
the  pastoral  term  from  two  to  four  years. 

The  system  of  receiving  candidates  for  church-mem- 
bership upon  probation  was  abolished ;  attendance  upon 
class-meetings  was  made  voluntary ;  and  provision  was 
made  for  meetings,  once  a  month,  of  all  members  of  the 
church  and  resident  members  of  an  Annual  Conference,  or 
on  circuits  at  least  every  three  months.  Authority  was 
given  to  these  meetings  to  strike  off  the  names  of  any  who, 
on  account  of  removal  or  other  cause,  had  been  lost  sight  of 
for  twelve  months,  with  the  provision  that  if  such  appeared 
and  claimed  membership  they  might  be  restored  by  a  vote 
of  the  meeting. 

McTyeire,  who  at  that  time  favored  the  removal  of  a 
time  limit,  became  convinced  by  experience  as  bishop  that 
the  church  escaped  a  very  great  evil  by  repealing  the  act 
immediately.  He  speaks  thus :  "  At  one  time  a  motion 
was  favorably  entertained  to  remove  the  limit  altogether, 
leaving  the  appointment  for  one  year  only,  but  to  be  re- 
peated at  the  discretion  of  the  appointing  power.  This, 
however,  was  reconsidered,  none  objecting  more  to  the 
extension  of  discretion  than  the  bishops.  If  they,  for  the 
good  of  the  whole  work,  must  move  the  preachers,  the  law 
must  keep  them  movable."  ^ 

Four  bishops  were  chosen  :  William  M.  Wightman,  Enoch 
M.  Marvin,  David  S.  Doggett,  and  Holland  N.  McTyeire. 

Wightman  was  born  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  January  29, 
1808.  His  life  covered  the  whole  period  of  constitutional 
Methodism.  He  had  been  a  minister  thirty  years,  and 
had  been  pastor,  presiding  elder,  professor,  editor,  and 
college  president. 

Marvin  was  a  descendant  on  his  father's  side  from 
early  New  England  settlers,  and  on  his  mother's  from  a 

1  McTyeire's  "  History  of  Methodism,"  p.  667. 


634  ^-^^^  METHODISTS.  [Chap,  xxiv- 

Welsh  family.  He  was  born  in  Warren  County,  Missouri, 
June  12,  1823,  and  began  to  preach  in  1842,  a  year  after  he 
was  converted.  Ten  years  were  spent  in  mission,  circuit, 
and  station  work,  after  which  he  was  made  presiding  elder. 
He  filled  several  pastorates  in  St.  Louis  and  served  as 
chaplain  in  the  Confederate  army.  At  the  close  of  the 
war  he  became  a  pastor  in  Texas.  He  was  famous  for 
social  qualities  and  also  for  genuine  unction  as  a  preacher. 

Doggett  was  a  native  of  Virginia  and  was  fifty-six  years 
old  when  chosen  bishop.  His  great-grandfather  was  an 
English  clergyman,  who  settled  in  that  colony  and  during 
colonial  times  was  a  rector  of  an  English  church  there. 
His  parents  were  converted  in  1 792  and  opened  their  house 
for  Methodist  preaching.  He  began  to  preach  when  less 
than  twenty  years  of  age,  and  speedily  attained  fame  for 
eloquence  and  efficiency,  and  in  1841  was  elected  profes- 
sor of  mental  and  moral  philosophy  at  Randolph  Macon 
College.  From  185  i  to  1858  he  was  editor  of  the  "  South- 
ern Methodist  Quarterly  Review,"  and  during  six  of  the 
years  regularly  appointed  pastor  of  one  of  the  largest  city 
stations.  After  a  term  of  service  as  presiding  elder  he  be- 
came pastor  in  Richmond. 

McTyeire,  a  South  Carolinian,  was  born  July  28,  1824. 
He  studied  at  Randolph  Macon  College ;  was  admitted  on 
trial  in  the  Virginia  Conference,  November,  1845  ;  preached 
in  Alabama  and  Louisiana ;  and  had  been  professor  of 
mathematics  and  ancient  lan^uawes  in  his  alma  mater,  edi- 
tor  of  the  New  Orleans  "  Christian  Advocate  "  and  of  the 
"Christian  Advocate"  at  Nashville,  Tenn. 

On  the  6th  of  March,  1867,  Bishop  Soule  died  at  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.  He  had  been  a  minister  more  than  sixty- 
seven,  and  a  bishop  forty-three,  years.  When  the  General 
Conference  of  1870  con\'ened  in  Memphis,  Tenn.,  his  col- 
leagues paid  him  a  fitting  tribute. 


FRATERNAL   INTERVIEWS.  635 

Bishops  Janes  and  Harris,  representing  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  appeared  and  made  a  statement  based 
on  action  of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  on  the  subject  of  union.  There  were 
certain  complications  in  the  resolutions  of  the  General 
Conference,  which  they  represented,  which  led  the  confer- 
ence to  the  conclusion  that  the  original  purpose  did  not 
contemplate  propositions  of  union  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  that  they  were  not  clothed 
with  power  to  treat  for  union.  The  conference  resolved, 
"  That  it  is  the  judgment  of  this  conference  that  the  true 
interests  of  the  church  of  Christ  require  and  demand  the 
maintenance  of  our  separate  organization."  It  also  re- 
ferred to  the  action  of  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  at  its  last  annual  meeting,  which 
defined  the  position  of  the  church  and  approved  the 
same. 

"  Great  courtesy,"  says  the  "  Journal  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,"  "  marked  the  spirit  and  con- 
duct of  the  ambassadors  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church;"  and  the  account  of  their  reception  shows  that  it 
was  fully  reciprocated.  The  complimentary  resolutions 
close  thus :  "  That  we  tender  to  the  Rev.  Bishop  E.  S. 
Janes  and  the  Rev.  W.  L.  Harris,  members  of  the  com- 
mission now  with  us,  our  high  regards  as  brethren  be- 
loved in  the  Lord,  and  express  our  desire  that  the  day 
may  soon  come  when  proper  Christian  sentiments  and 
fraternal  relations  between  the  two  great  branches  of 
Northern  and  Southern  Methodism  shall  be  permanently 
established." 

Another  attempt  was  made  to  change  the  name  of  the 
church.  After  discussion  the  proposition  was  laid  on  the 
table  among  the  unfinished  business.  Atticus  G.  Hay- 
good    was    elected    Sunday-school    secretary,    and    John 


636  THE   MRrnODISTS.  [CHai-.  xxiv. 

Christian  Keener  bishop.  He  was  born  in  l^altimore,  Feb- 
ruary 7,  18 19,  prepared  himself  for  college  at  Wilbraham, 
Mass.,  and  was  graduated  as  a  member  of  the  first  regular 
class  in  Wesleyan  University  in  1835.  I'"*  1843  he  joined 
the  Alabama  Conference  on  trial  and  three  years  later  was 
sent  to  New  Orleans.  There  he  remained  twenty  years, 
filling  three  pastorates  and  the  presiding  eldership  of  the 
New  Orleans  district.  From  1866  until  his  election  as 
bishop  he  edited  the  New  Orleans  "  Christian  Advocate." 

The  Conference  of  1874  convened  in  Louisville,  Ky. 
Bishop  Andrew  died  March  2,  1871,  and  Bishop  Early 
November  5,  1873.  The  increase  of  the  church  had  been 
marvelous.  Notwithstanding  60,000  members  had  with- 
drawn to  form  the  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
there  was  a  gain  of  126,299.  The  bishops  also  reported 
"wonderful  progress  in  church-building  both  as  to  the 
number  of  houses,  style  of  architecture,  and  accommoda- 
tions for  comfort  at  all  seasons."  They  deplored  the  fact 
that  the  great  body  of  the  people  persisted  in  believing  that 
the  General  Conference  of  1866  abolished  class-meetings, 
not  only  as  a  test  of  membership,  but  as  a  Methodist  in- 
stitution, and  called  for  action  to  destroy  the  latter  im- 
pression. The  fraternal  delegates  from  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  were  Albert  S.  Hunt,  Charles  H.  Fowler, 
and  General  Clinton  B.  Fisk.  The  "  Journal "  records 
that  their  addresses  were  characterized  by  "  excellent  taste, 
great  ability,  and  warm  fraternal  sentiments." 

Arrangements  were  made  for  the  Cape  May  Commis- 
sion.^ An  official  address  was  received  from  the  British 
Wesleyan  Conference,  signed  by  George  C.  Perks,  the 
president,  and  Gervase  Smith,  the  secretary.  It  referred 
to  the  fact  that  hitherto  the  body  had  not  sought  intercom- 
mimion,  assigned  the  existence  of  slavery  as  the  cause,  and 

1  See  p. 


DIFFICULTIES  OF   THE  BOOK  CONCERN.  637 

thanked  God  that  it  had  passed  away.  In  replying  the 
General  Conference  expressed  itself  thus :  "  Being  aware 
of  the  light  in  which  the  heated  denunciations  of  sec- 
tional prejudice  and  misunderstood  surroundings  have 
caused  us  to  be  viewed,  ...  we  have  calmly  waited  for 
time  to  soften  asperities  of  feeHng.  ...  Believing  that 
ecclesiastically  we  have  occupied  no  ground  which  is  not 
strictly  Scriptural,  or  different  from  that  occupied  by  the 
venerable  founder  of  Methodism  and  the  other  great  bodies 
of  the  Wesleyan  family,  we  have  not  been  able  to  see  why 
your  venerable  body  has  failed  to  recognize  us  hitherto." 
The  conference  declined  even  to  state  the  grounds  of  its 
former  or  present  position,  or  to  attempt  any  defense,  but 
affirmed  itself  entirely  willing  to  leave  its  vindication  "  to 
impartial  history  and  calmer  times,"  and  "  content  to  re- 
joice that  an  era  of  clear  views  has  dawned." 

The  General  Conference  of  1870  had  adopted,  by  a 
vote  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-four  to  four,  a  proposal  to 
change  the  Discipline  so  as  to  give  to  the  bishops  the 
power  to  present  their  objections  thereto,  with  their  rea- 
sons, in  writing,  in  case  a  rule  or  regulation  was  adopted 
by  the  General  Conference  which  in  their  opinion  was  un- 
constitutional. If  then  the  General  Conference  should  by 
a  two-thirds  vote  adhere  to  its  action,  it  should  take  the 
course  prescribed  for  altering  a  restrictive  rule,  and  if  thus 
passed  upon  affirmatively  the  bishops  should  announce  that 
such  rule  or  regulation  took  effect  from  that  time.  These 
resolutions  were  submitted  to  the  several  Annual  Confer- 
ences and  were  concurred  in,  the  vote  being  two  thousand 
and  twenty-four  yeas  to  nine  nays,  and  the  Discipline  was 
changed  in  harmony  therewith. 

The  Book  Concern  being  in  financial  difficulties,  John 
B.  McFerrin  was  elected  agent,  the  enormous  debt  of 
$356,843  was  bonded,  and,  aided  by  a  committee  consist- 


638  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxiv. 

ing  of  leading  business  men,  McFerrin,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-one,  went  forth  to  sell  the  bonds  and  place  the 
institution  on  a  paying  basis. 

The  conference  recognized  the  magnificent  gift  of  Mr. 
Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  of  New  York,  of  over  $500,000  to 
build  and  endow  a  university  under  the  control  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  the  corner-stone  of 
which  had  been  laid  April  24,  1872. 

The  Conference  of  1878,  meeting  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  re- 
ferred the  question  of  the  church  name  to  a  special  commit- 
tee, on  whose  report  it  resolved  that  the  question  had  been 
finally  settled  by  rejection,  that  the  time  for  such  change,  if 
it  ever  existed,  was  past,  and  that  there  should  be  no  fur- 
ther agitation  of  the  matter.  The  agreement  reached  by 
the  Cape  May  Commission,  establishing  formal  fraternity, 
was  approved.  C.  D.  Foss  and  W.  Cumback  presented 
fraternal  greetings  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  an  incident  of  special  significance  was  the  response  of 
Pierce,  then  in  his  ninety-fourth  year.  The  death  of 
Bishop  Marvin,  which  had  taken  place  November  26th  of 
the  preceding  year,  was  recognized  with  grief,  which  was 
mingled  with  gladness  that  his  life  had  been  such  that, 
though  dead,  he  would  speak  while  the  church  should  last. 
The  surpassing  eloquence  and  power  of  George  Douglas, 
fraternal  delegate  from  Canada,  were  a  delight  and  aston- 
ishment to  the  conference. 

It  was  with  great  joy  that  the  General  Conference  of 
1882  convened  at  Nashville.  The  force  of  ministers  had 
increased  247,  and  the  membership  amounted  to  860,687. 
Contributions  to  foreign  missions  had  increased  $1 1 1,438.- 
01,  and  the  amount  in  the  last  showed  a  handsome  advance 
upon  the  sum  received  in  the  preceding  quadrennium. 
The  Indian  Mission  had  steadily  grown,  there  being  in 
that  conference  over  5000  members.    The  Mexican  Bor- 


WOMAN'S  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY.        639 

der,  the  Central  Mexican,  the  China,  and  the  Brazil  mis- 
sions presented  favorable  indications. 

The  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  then  four  years 
old,  had  already  justified  the  enthusiasm  with  which  its  or- 
ganization was  heralded  to  the  church.  The  publishing- 
house,  whose  liabilities  fouryears  before  exceeded  the  assets 
by  more  than  $100,000,  now  reported  a  surplus  of  $50,000. 

The  senior  bishop,  Paine,  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of  his 
ministry,  besought  the  conference  to  allow  him  to  retire 
from  future  active  service.  Summers,  the  "  editor  of 
books,"  who  had  been  secretary  of  every  General  Confer- 
ence except  the  first,  when  he  was  assistant,  died  during 
the  session  of  the  conference.  H.  B.  Ridgaway  appeared 
as  fraternal  delegate  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Alpheus  W.  Wilson,  Linus  Parker,  Atticus  G.  Haygood, 
John  C.  Granbery,  and  Robert  K.  Hargrove  were  elected 
bishops. 

Wilson  was  the  son  of  Norval  Wilson,  a  Methodist  min- 
ister of  distinction,  and  was  born  in  1834.  He  studied 
medicine,  but  entered  the  ministry  at  nineteen  and  had 
important  appointments,  but,  failing  in  health,  studied  and 
practiced  law.  He  afterward  resumed  the  ministry,  and 
had  been  an  efficient  secretary  of  the  Board  of  Missions 
for  four  years. 

Parker,  fifty-three  years  of  age,  was  a  native  of  Rome, 
N.  Y.,  and  had  been  pastor,  presiding  elder,  and  editor  of 
the  New  Orleans  "  Christian  Advocate." 

Granbery  was  born  in  Norfolk,  Va.,  December  5,  1829, 
and  was  graduated  from  Randolph  Macon  College  with 
the  first  honor  of  the  class.  He  was  a  chaplain  in  the 
Confederate  army,  for  a  time  was  superintendent  of  chap- 
lains for  the  Virginia  Conference,  and  had  been  seven 
years  professor  in  the  theological  department  of  Vander- 
bilt  University. 


640  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chai'.  xxiv. 

Hargrove  was  not  a  member  of  the  body  which  elected 
him  bishop.  He  was  born  September  7,  1829,  was  grad- 
uated from  the  University  of  Alabama,  had  been  pastor, 
presiding  elder,  college  professor,  and  president. 

Haygood  on  the  day  after  his  election  solemnly  declined 
to  accept  the  position,  on  the  ground  that  he  could  not  lay 
down  the  important  work  which  he  then  had  in  hand, — that 
of  president  of  Emory  College, — whereupon  the  conference 
resolved  to  elect  no  one  in  his  place. 

O.  P.  Fitzgerald  was  elected  editor  of  the  Nashville 
"  Christian  Advocate,"  W.  H.  Harrison,  book-editor,  Rob- 
ert A.  Young,  secretary  of  the  Board  of  Missions,  J.  W. 
Hinton,  editor  of  the  "  Quarterly  Review."  The  editors 
of  the  other  periodicals  officially  recognized  were  elected 
by  the  delegations  of  the  conferences  of  which  the  papers 
were  respectively  the  organs. 

A  chapter  which  declared  drunkenness  an  immorality 
was  added  to  the  Discipline,  and  where  members  are 
guilty  of  drinking  spirituous  liquors  (except  in  cases  of 
necessity)  it  was  ordered  that  the  rules  for  dealing  with 
imprudent  or  improper  conduct  should  be  applied.  It 
was  further  provided  that  members  engaged  in  manufac- 
turing or  selling  intoxicating  liquors  to  be  used  as  a  bever- 
age should  be  proceeded  against  in  the  same  manner. 

Four  bishops  died  during  the  next  quadrennium  :  Paine, 
October  19,  1882;  Kavanaugh,  March  19,  1884;  Pierce, 
September  3,  1884;  and  Parker,  March  5,  1885. 

The  episcopal  address  to  the  General  Conference  of 
1886  at  Richmond,  Va.,  made  enthusiastic  reference  to  the 
centennial  celebration,  and  said  there  would  seem  to  be 
no  room  for  doubt  that  fraternity  is  an  accomplished  fact. 
One  million  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  dol- 
lars had  been  given  in  the  Centennial  Conference,  mostly 
for  local  objects.     The  conference  recognized  with  delight 


TEMPERANCE  AND   DIVORCE.  64 1 

the  largest  quadrennial  accession  since  the  organization  of 
the  church — 130,277.  Vanderbilt  University  already  had 
519  students,  and  maintained  mathematical,  biblical,  law, 
dental,  pharmaceutical,  and  engineering  departments.  The 
biblical  department  had  received  a  bequest  of  $40,000 
from  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Dickinson,  of  Memphis,  Tenn.  Wil- 
liam H.  Vanderbilt,  son  of  the  founder,  had  died  and  left 
so  large  a  sum  that  his  gifts  now  amounted  to  $460,000. 

The  conference  amended  the  chapter  in  the  Discipline 
on  the  subject  of  temperance  by  requiring  that  persons 
who  manufactured  or  sold  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  bever- 
age should  be  dealt  with  as  in  the  case  of  immorality,  and 
not  merely  as  in  the  case  of  imprudent  or  improper  con- 
duct. It  also  declared  that  it  would  continue  to  agitate 
the  subject  of  prohibition  as  a  great  moral  question.  John 
Miley  represented  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  William 
Briggs  the  Methodist  Church  of  Canada. 

Upon  the  subject  of  divorce  the  following  resolution 
was  passed :  "  No  minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  knowingly,  upon  due  inquiry,  shall  sol- 
emnize the  marriage  of  any  person  who  has  a  divorced 
wife  or  husband  still  living;  provided  this  inhibition  shall 
not  apply  to  the  innocent  party  to  a  divorce  granted  for 
the  Scriptural  cause,  or  to  parties  once  divorced  seeking  to 
be  remarried." 

William  W.  Duncan,  Charles  B.  Galloway,  Eugene  R. 
Hendrix,  and  Joseph  S.  Key  were  elected  bishops. 

Duncan  was  born  December  27,  1839,  at  Randolph 
Macon  College,  Virginia,  where  his  father  was  professor  of 
ancient  languages.  He  was  graduated  from  WofTord  Col- 
lege, Spartanburg,  S.  C. ;  joined  the  Virginia  Conference 
in  1859;  was  pastor,  a  portion  of  the  time  chaplain,  till 
1875,  when  he  became  professor  of  mental  and  moral  sci- 
ence in  his   alma   mater ;   there  he   remained   until  made 


642  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxiv. 

bishop,  though  constantly  preaching  and  in  great  demand 
for  platform  addresses. 

Galloway  was  born  in  Mississippi,  September  15,1849,  was 
graduated  from  the  University  of  Mississippi  in  1868,  and 
later  in  the  year  entered  the  conference  of  the  same  name. 
His  success  as  a  pastor  was  marked  from  the  outset,  and 
his  eloquence  in  the  cause  of  temperance  and  other  forms 
of  philanthropy  gave  him  deserved  popularity  throughout 
the  State ;  for  the  last  four  years  he  was  editor  of  the 
New  Orleans  "  Christian  Advocate." 

Hendrix  was  born  in  Fayette  County,  Missouri,  May 
17,  1847.  He  was  graduated  from  Wesleyan  University 
in  1867  and  from  Union  Theological  Seminary  in  1869. 
After  three  pastorates  in  his  native  State  and  a  journey 
round  the  world  with  Bishop  Marvin,  who  visited  the  mis- 
sions of  the  church,  he  was  elected  president  of  Central  Col- 
lege, Fayette,  Mo.,  and  there  remained  till  chosen  bishop. 

Key  is  a  native  of  La  Grange,  Ga.,  where  he  was  born 
July  18,  1829.  He  was  converted  in  1847,  was  graduated 
the  next  year  from  Emory  College,  and  at  once  entered 
the  Georgia  Conference.  He  had  spent  eleven  years  in 
Macon  as  pastor  and  presiding  elder,  and  thirteen  in  Co- 
lumbus in  similar  capacities. 

When  the  General  Conference  assembled  in  Atlanta  in 
1890  the  number  of  preachers  and  members  had  reached 
1,177,150,  a  gain  of  186,156;  corresponding  addition  had 
been  made  to  the  ministry. 

Bishop  McTyeire  died  February  15,  1889.  So  valuable 
had  been  his  services  in  promoting  the  foundation  and 
endowment  of  Vanderbilt  University  that  the  conference, 
after  commending  him  in  every  capacity,  declared  that 
"  nothing  would  give  him  more  durable  honor  than  the 
great  service  rendered  in  forming  and  directing  Vander- 
bilt University;  that  it  is  a  grand  monument  to  the  mem- 


NOT  "ORGANIC  UNION''  BUT  FRATERNITY  SOUGHT.  643 

ory  of  its  founder,  and  hardly  less  to  the  name   of  Mc- 
Tyeire." 

Certain  ministers  having  been  speaking  publicly  and 
privately  of  the  reformed  theater  and  the  legitimate 
drama,  the  conference,  after  various  attempts  were  made 
to  postpone  the  resolution,  declared  such  expressions  to 
be  misleading  and  dangerous,  and  the  more  so  if  they 
emanated  from  a  preacher  of  the  gospel.  By  a  rising  vote 
they  denounced  the  Louisiana  State  lottery  as  a  national 
disgrace,  and  expressed  most  profound  sympathy  for  their 
brethren  of  Louisiana,  promising  to  aid  them  by  all  proper 
means  to  rid  themselves  forever  of  that  and  all  other  lot- 
teries. 

■The  committee  ordered  by  the  last  General  Conference 
to  revise  the  hymn-book  had  finished  its  work  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  church.  S.  A.  Steel,  who  had  been  frater- 
nal delegate  to  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  of  1888,  reported  his  reception.  Frank 
M.  Bristol  and  Robert  E.  Pattison,  fraternal  messengers 
from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  were  heard,  and  this 
resolution  was  passed  :  "  The  conference  recognizes  in  their 
words  that  we  have  common  antagonisms  to  overcome, 
and  in  their  spirit  that  we  are  all  looking  for  victory  to 
the  same  source  of  power."  This  characterization  included 
also  the  addresses  of  the  fraternal  delegates  from  the  Wes- 
leyan  Methodist  Conference  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 
The  conference  resolved  that  it  would  deplore  "  organic 
union  of  all  Protestant  churches  as  an  evil  which  would 
intensify  the  dififerences  sought  to  be  removed,  and  clog 
for  centuries  the  wheels  of  progress  in  Christian  thought 
and  work,"  and  respectfully  declined  "  to  appoint  a  com- 
mission to  meet  a  similar  commission  appointed  by  the 
bishops  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  for  the  pur- 
poses indicated  in  their  declaration." 


644  ^'^^^'  ^"^li^THODlSTS.  [Chap,  xxiv, 

Atticus  G.  Haygood  and  Oscar  P.  Fitzgerald  were 
elected  bishops.  Haygood  was  born  at  Watkinsville,  Ga., 
November  19,  1839;  was  graduated  from  Emory  College, 
Georgia,  in  1856,  licensed  in  his  senior  year  to  preach,  and 
joined  the  Georgia  Conference.  After  service  in  the  pas- 
torate and  presiding  eldership,  in  which  he  manifested 
superior  executive  ability,  he  was  elected  in  1870  editor 
of  Sunday-school  books,  and  in  1876  president  of  his  alma 
mater,  a  part  of  the  time  editing  the  "  Wesleyan  Advo- 
cate "  at  Macon,  Ga.  Declining  the  episcopacy,  to  which 
he  was  elected  in  1882,  he  became  agent  of  the  Slater 
Fund,  a  trust  "  to  be  administered  in  no  partisan,  sectional, 
or  sectarian  spirit,  but  in  the  interest  of  a  generous  patri- 
otism and  enlightened  Christian  faith."  To  do  this  he 
resigned  his  presidency.  He  became  celebrated  as  an 
author  of  progressive  ideas,  his  most  important  work  being 
"  Our  Brother  in  Black." 

Fitzgerald  is  a  North  Carolinian  of  Caswell  County, 
where  he  was  born  August  24,  1829.  After  an  academy 
education  he  took  up  journalism,  next  taught  school,  and 
then  went  upon  the  staff  of  the  Richmond  "Examiner." 
From  being  "  sick  nigh  unto  death  "  he  arose  a  changed 
man,  entered  upon  a  religious  life,  became  a  minister,  and 
went  to  California,  where  he  was  successively  pastor,  col- 
lege agent,  editor  of  the  "  Pacific  Methodist "  and  the 
"  Christian  Spectator,"  and  State  superintendent  of  public 
instruction.  His  last  function  was  that  of  editor  of  the 
Nashville  "  Christian  Advocate." 

A  proposal  was  brought  forward  to  make  the  bishops 
ex  officio  members  of  the  General  Conference.  The  Com- 
mittee on  Episcopacy,  to  which  it  was  referred,  did  not 
concur  in  the  recommendation,  on  the  ground  that  the 
bishops  were  already  ex  officio  presiding  officers  in  General 
and  Annual  Conferences,  and  also  endowed  with  a  veto 


A    GREAT  GIFT.  645 

power;  that  membership  in  the  conferences  would  involve 
legislative  prerogatives ;  and  that  to  invest  those  with  such 
membership,  who  might  veto  measures  contrary  to  those 
which  they  might  fail  to  carry,  "  would  be  a  backward 
movement,  incompatible  with  sound  maxims  and  princi- 
ples of  government." 

Preparations  were  made  for  the  coming  Ecumenical  Con- 
ference. An  exalted  but  merited  tribute  was  paid  to  the 
memory  of  John  B.  McFerrin,  whose  services  had  not  been 
surpassed  in  the  history  of  the  church.  Discharging  with 
rare  success  the  ordinary  obligations  of  the  ministry,  he 
was  equally  efficient  as  college  agent,  missionary  secretary, 
editor,  and  book-agent,  and  was  constantly  called  upon 
by  the  church  to  meet  alarming  emergencies.  The  report, 
which  was  adopted  unanimously,  speaks  of  him  as  "  the 
great  commoner  of  Southern  Methodism." 

The  Conference  of  1894  assembled  in  Memphis,  Tenn. 
The  membership,  including  5487  traveling  preachers, 
amounted  to  1,345,210.  The  bishops  deplored  the  multi- 
plication of  evangelists,  and  noted  the  fact  that  "  many 
communities  are  restless  unless  they  have  weeks  of  evan- 
gelistic meetings  yearly  or  once  in  two  years,  and  the  pas- 
tors who  refuse  to  enter  into  such  an  arrangement  are 
subjected  to  sharp  criticism."  They  predicted  "a  condi- 
tion in  which  this  state  of  things  may  sink  pastors  into 
mere  officers  of  garrisons  to  look  after  the  walls,  stores,  and 
daily  drill  until  the  arrival  of  evangelists  to  inspire  courage 
and  enthusiasm  and  to  plan  and  lead  an  active  campaign." 

The  liberality  was  commended  of  Robert  A.  Barnes,  of 
St.  Louis,  who,  after  endowing  two  chairs  in  the  Central 
College  and  giving  $27,000  to  the  St.  Louis  Methodist 
Orphans'  Home,  bequeathed  $1,100,000  for  the  erection 
and  maintenance  of  a  hospital  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 


646  'J'lll:    MErilOJyiSIS.  [CiiAi'.  XXIV. 

Bishop  Galloway  gave  an  account  of  his  fraternal  mis- 
sion to  the  Wesleyan  and  other  Methodist  bodies  of  the 
United  Kingdom.  Various  fraternal  delegates  delivered 
their  messages,  John  F.  Goucher  and  Henry  Wade  Rogers, 
president  of  the  Northwestern  Universit}-,  representing  the 
Methodist  PLpiscopal  Church.  John  J.  Tigert  ga\-e  an  ac- 
count of  his  services  in  a  similar  capacity  at  the  General 
Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Omaha, 
stating  that  he  was  received  with  all  honor  as  the  messen- 
ger of  the  church,  and  presenting  the  fraternal  resolution 
passed  by  that  body. 

A  unique  event  was  the  veto  of  the  bishops  of  a  pro- 
posed paragraph  of  the  Discipline,  numbered  260,  dealing 
with  a  part  of  the  plan  of  lay  representation  which  had  been 
incorporated  with  the  constitution  and  therefore  could  not 
be  altered  by  a  vote  of  the  conference.  The  point  to  which 
the  exception  was  taken  was  that  a  committee  of  trial 
should  be  chosen  indiscriminately  by  lot  from  a  body 
composed  of  laymen  and  ministers,  to  try  the  character 
and  relations  of  ministers  only.  It  was  ruled,  on  a  point 
of  order,  that  the  veto  touched  but  one  point  of  the  law. 

E.  E.  Hoss  was  continued  in  the  "  Christian  Advocate  " 
of  Nashville,  to  which  he  had  been  elected  when  Fitz- 
gerald became  bishop.  J.  J.  Tigert  was  chosen  editor  of 
books  and  also  of  the  "  Southern  Quarterly  Review." 

Remarkable  differences  besides  those  elsewhere  men- 
tioned exist  between  the  Discipline  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  those  of  other  Methodist 
Churches  in  America. 

When  a  special  session  of  the  General  Conference  is 
called,  "  it  shall  be  constituted  of  the  delegates  elected  to 
the  preceding  General  Conference,  except  when  an  An- 
nual Conference  shall  prefer  to  have  a  new  election." 
Again,   "  the   bishops   shall    have   authority,   when   they 


AIISSIOiVS  AND  BENEFICENCE.  647 

judge  it  necessary,  to  change  the  place  appointed  for  the 
meeting  of  the  General  Conference."  A  majority  of 
the  representatives  suffices  to  constitute  a  quorum.  The 
supernumerary  and  superannuated  relations  cannot  be 
granted,  except  on  the  recommendation  of  a  committee 
on  conference  relations,  consisting  of  not  less  than  seven 
members ;  but  should  the  committee  report  adversely,  the 
conference  may,  by  a  vote  of  not  less  then  three  fourths 
of  the  members  present,  grant  the  application. 

A  discriminating  provision  has  been  added  to  the  regu- 
lations concerning  temperance  and  the  liquor  traffic.  It  is 
in  these  words:  "  This  paragraph  [which  forbids  members 
from  doing  a  variety  of  things  connected  with  property  on 
which  liquors  are  sold,  becoming  bondsmen  for  the  dealers, 
issuing  licenses]  shall  not  apply  to  persons  who  are  acting 
under  instructions  or  decrees  of  any  court,  or  who  are  act- 
ing as  officers  of  the  law." 

In  addition  to  the  territory  represented  in  the  conven- 
tion which  organized  the  church,  it  now  has  conferences 
in  Oregon,  Washington,  Idaho,  Illinois,  Indiana,  California, 
Montana,  New  Mexico,  Kansas,  and  Nebraska. 

The  oldest  foreign  mission  is  that  in  China,  begun  in 
1848  and  organized  as  a  conference  in  1886.  There  are 
13  foreign  and  13  native  ministers,  a  membership  of  493 
natives  and  24  foreigners,  and  in  1894  there  were  503 
probationers.  Two  colleges  are  sustained,  also  hospitals 
and  other  adjuncts  of  effective  missionary  work.  The 
Brazil  Mission  Conference  was  begun  in  1874  and  was  or- 
ganized as  a  conference  in  1886.  There  are  14  ministers, 
of  whom  3  are  on  trial,  and  in  1894  there  were  10,987 
members.  During  the  year  1894  there  were  280  persons 
baptized,  of  whom  187  were  adults. 

The  missions  in  Mexico  were  established  twenty-three 
years  ago  and  are  flourishing.     They  are  divided  into  the 


648  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxiv. 

Mexican  Border  Mission,  the  Northwest  Mexican,  and  tlie 
Central  Mexican  Mission  conferences.  Besides  the  re- 
public of  Mexico,  the  Mexican  populations  in  the  United 
States  are  included  in  these  conferences  according  to 
proximity. 

The  Japan  Mission,  opened  in  1886,  has  been  very 
prosperous.  The  conference  has  13  members,  18  local 
preachers  are  employed,  and  there  are  600  communicants. 
The  Indian  Mission  Conference  contains  17,118  members 
and  is  rapidly  increasing. 

The  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  distributes 
its  efforts  and  resources  through  four  mission  fields,  and 
appropriated  for  the  year  1895-96,  $83,225.  The  Church 
Extension  Society,  organized  in  1882,  collected  and  dis- 
bursed $647,105.46  in  thirteen  years.  It  has  a  permanent 
loan  fund  amounting  to  more  than  $100,000,  and  the 
churches  helped  by  it  number  3009. 

The  Woman's  Parsonage  and  Home  Mission  Society  has 
a  membership  of  above  12,000,  and  in  ten  years  has  aided 
784  parsonages ;  at  the  present  time  it  supports  two  day 
and  six  industrial  schools  and  eight  city  missionaries.  Its 
receipts  have  averaged  more  than  $10,000  per  annum. 

One  of  the  beneficent  institutions  of  the  church  is  the 
Scarritt  Bible  and  Training-school,  situated  at  Kansas  City, 
Mo.,  founded  by  the  liberality  of  the  Rev.  Nathan  Scarritt, 
of  that  place.  Though  of  recent  origin,  its  students  are  al- 
ready distributed  in  China,  Siam,  Brazil,  and  Japan.  The 
Book  Concern  has  a  capital  of  nearly  $700,000.  The  Board 
of  Education  is  but  two  years  old  ;  its  work  so  far  has  been 
preparatory.  The  registry  contains  the  names  and  loca- 
tions of  ninety-three  institutions  under  the  patronage  of 
the  church  ;  no  State  in  the  South  is  without  one  or  more. 
Paine  Institute  has  property  amounting  to  more  than 
$75,000.     The  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Board  of 


DEATH   OF  BISHOP   HAY  GOOD.  649 

Education  makes  strenuous  appeals  to  the  church  to  sus- 
tain the  institute,  as  it  is  so  rich  in  opportunity  as  "  to  be 
wholly  unable  to  meet  the  demands  made  upon  it,  and 
since  it  is  the  visible  answer  of  the  church  to  the  question, 
'  What  have  you  done  for  the  education  of  your  former 
slaves? '  " 

An  event  which  caused  the  denomination  great  sorrow 
was  the  premature  death  of  Bishop  Haygood,  January  19, 
1896,  who,  by  all  human  methods  of  computation,  seemed 
scarcely  to  have  reached  the  maturity  of  his  extraordinary 
powers.  In  its  bereavement  American  Christianity,  and 
especially  all  progressive  philanthropists,  sympathized. 

The  rate  of  increase  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  for  some  years  has  surpassed  that  of  any  other 
large  Protestant  body.  Its  leaders,  lay  and  clerical,  are 
arousing  its  constituency  to  the  necessity  of  suitably  en- 
dowing its  numerous  institutions,  and  the  spirit  of  the 
communion  is  united  and  hopeful. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

PROPAGANDISM,  CULTURE,  AND  PHILANTHROPY  IN  THE 
METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH. 

In  its  first  period  Methodism  relied  wholly  upon  the 
circuit  system  for  expansion  and  growth ;  stations  were 
regarded  with  disfavor ;  but  with  the  increase  of  particular 
societies  in  numbers,  financial  resources,  and  independence, 
the  multiplication  of  stations  was  inevitable,  and  the  dis- 
tance between  them  in  the  United  States  tended  to  prevent 
the  continuance  of  a  modified  circuit  system,  which  still 
predominates  in  England.  Gradually  the  ancient  plan 
has  passed  away  in  many  sections,  and  is  general  only  on 
the  frontiers  and  in  regions  wholly  agricultural.  Hence 
home  missions  became  necessary ;  but  the  circumstances 
attending  the  origin  of  the  Missionary  Society,  and  the 
relation  to  the  Annual  Conferences  of  all  work  of  which 
the  pastors  are  the  centers,  led  to  devolving  on  a  single 
society  the  care  of  both  the  foreign  and  the  home  mission 
work.  When  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  indorsed  the  Missionary  Society  in  the 
session  of  1820,  it  said,  "  Methodism  itself  is  a  missionary 
system.  Yield  the  missionary  spirit  and  you  yield  the  very 
life-blood  of  the  cause." 

Charles  Pitman,  of  New  Jersey,  the  successor  of  Bangs, 
for  eight  \-ears  inspired  the  church  with  enthusiasm  by  his 
sermons  and  addresses.  The  career  of  Durbin,  his  suc- 
cessor, covered  a  period  of  twentyrsix  years,  and  when 

6150 


DURBIh'  AS  MISSIONARY   SKCKETARY.  65  I 

he  retired  the  annual  report  said:  "The  inspiration  of  his 
soul  and  the  pecuharly  methodical  character  of  his  mind 
were  stamped  indelibly  upon  its  [the  Missionary  Society] 
every  part."  He  saw  the  annual  income  increased  from 
$100,000  to  more  than  $600,000,  and  the  appropriation 
to  foreign  missions  from  $37,300  to  $300,000. 

The  first  foreign  mission  was  established  in  Africa  in 
1835,  and  the  second  in  South  America  five  years  later. 
When  Durbin  took  charge  there  were  less  than  a  thousand 
members  in  Africa;  the  work  in  South  America  had  not 
been  prosperous,  though  its  spiritual  fruits  are  discernible 
in  the  existing  organizations  ;  the  mission  to  China  had  just 
been  opened  in  Foo-chow,  and  had  not  more  than  twent}^- 
five  members.  At  the  time  of  his  retirement  there  were 
two  thousand  members  in  the  Foo-chow  mission  alone, 
and  missions  had  been  established  in  central  and  north 
China,  in  Norwav,  Sweden,  Denmark,  Germany,  and  Swit- 
zerland, and  in  these  countries  had  attained  a  member- 
ship of  about  twenty-two  thousand.  The  mission  in 
north  India  had  reached  twenty-five  hundred  ;  one  in  south 
India  had  been  started  ;  that  in  Italy  was  three  years  old ; 
the  same  year  was  founded  one  in  Japan,  and,  the  year 
before,  William  Butler  had  raised  the  banner  of  Metho- 
dism in  Mexico.  Durbin  was  ably  assisted  during  his 
entire  service  as  secretary,  notably  by  William  L.  Harris, 
for  twelve  years. 

The  society  had  been  in  existence  for  nine  years  be- 
fore its  annual  receipts  amounted  to  more  than  $10,000, 
and  three  years  later  they  fell  below  tiiat  amount.  The 
treasurer's  report  in  1836  showed  an  advance  of  more 
than  sixty  per  cent,  over  the  preceding  year,  but  in  the 
panic  of  1837  the  annual  income  dropped  back  four  and 
a  half  per  cent.  The  year  before  the  bisection  ol  the 
church  it  had  reached  $144,770.80;   it  gained  $2000  in 


652  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxv. 

1844,  but  fell  the  next  year  to  $94,562,  and  continued 
to  decline  until  1847,  when  the  lowest  point,  $78,932,  was 
reached.  The  panic  of  1857-58  caused  a  loss,  and  before 
the  receipts  had  ceased  to  decline  on  this  account  the 
early  years  of  the  Civil  War  occasioned  a  further  decrease  ; 
but  1863  showed  a  gain  over  the  previous  year  of  more 
than  $150,000.  From  1865  to  1872  the  annual  inflow 
fluctuated  between  $600,000  and  $700,000,  in  the  latter 
year  lacking  but  $7500  of  $700,000.  The  panic  of  1873 
precipitated  a  period  of  decrease  lasting  six  years,  the 
receipts  of  1879  being  $559,371.14.  After  this  there  was 
a  steady  rise  until  1884,  when  Charles  C.  McCabe  be- 
came a  secretary.  Finding  that  during  the  preceding 
quadrennium  the  yearly  receipts  had  been  increased  over 
$200,000,  he  raised  the  cry  of,  "  A  million  for  missions," 
and  in  two  years,  despite  considerable  skepticism,  trans- 
formed prophecy  into  history. 

In  the  beginning  all  the  money  appropriated  in  this 
country  was  distributed  through  the  various  Annual  Con- 
ferences ;  but  most  of  the  older  conferences  have  relin- 
quished their  claims,  and  the  funds  spent  in  the  United 
States  are  now  devoted  to  the  assistance  of  conferences  in 
which  there  is  a  large  proportion  of  frontier  work,  and  to 
the  support  of  domestic  missions,  which  include  the  Ameri- 
can Indians,  the  Welsh,  French,  German,  Scandinavian, 
Chinese,  Japanese,  Bohemian,  Italian,  and  Portuguese 
races,  speaking  their  native  tongues,  and  English-speak- 
ing mission  conferences. 

The  earliest  missionaries  to  China  were  Judson  Dwight 
Collins,  Moses  C.  White,  and  Robert  S.  Maclay.  The 
mission  in  India  was  founded  by  William  Butler.  Maclay, 
whose  administration  in  China  had  demonstrated  his  pre- 
eminent fitness  for  responsibility,  founded  the  mission  in 
Japan  in  1873;   he  also  was  the  first  Christian  missionary 


irOMAX'S   I'OKEIGX  MISSIOXAKY  SOCIETY.         653 

to  enter  the  open  door  of  Korea,  the  "  hermit  nation." 
Having  sailed  from  Nagasaki,  Japan,  he  arrived  at  Chi- 
mulpo  on  the  23d  of  June,  1884,  and  went  at  once  to  the 
capital.  But  the  first  missionary  duly  appointed  to  Korea 
was  the  Rev.  William  Benton  Scranton,  M.D.,  an  alumnus 
of  Yale  College  and  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons in  New  York. 

The  mission  in  Bulgaria  was  founded  in  1857  by  Albert 
L.  Long  ^  and  Wesley  Prettyman.  The  mission  to  Norway 
began  in  New  York  under  the  labors  of  Olof  Gustav  Hed- 
strom,  pastor  of  the  Bethel  Ship,  "  John  Wesley,"  whose 
converts  bore  the  news  of  their  conversion  to  Norway. 
One  of  them,  O.  P.  Petersen,  is  the  real  founder  of  the 
Methodist  mission  in  that  country.  John  P.  Larsson,  a 
Swede,  a  Bethel  Ship  convert,  originated  the  Swedish 
mission,  and  was  the  first  missionary  of  the  society  therein. 
C.  Willerup,  assisted  by  Larsson,  was  the  founder  of  the 
mission  to  Denmark,  his  native  land. 

The  German  missions  in  America,  founded  by  William 
Nast,  were  widely  distributed  and  very  prosperous  as  early 
as  1844,  when  he  was  authorized  to  visit  Germany  with  a 
view  of  founding  a  mission  there.  Ludwig  S.  Jacoby  was 
appointed  in  1849  to  Germany,  and  preached  his  first  ser- 
mon in  December  of  that  year  in  a  small  place  about  twenty 
miles  from  Berlin.  Five  months  later  the  first  Quarterly 
Conference  was  held  in  Bremen,  which  he  considered  the 
birthday  of  the  mission. 

Two  days  after  its  formation  the  Missionary  Society 
formally  resolved  that  "  the  females  attached  to  the  Meth- 
odist congregations  be  invited  to  form  an  auxiliary  society." 
The  Women's  Union  Missionary  Socrety  for  Heathen  Lands 
was  founded  in  i860,  and  in  1868  the  Women's  Board  of 

1  Now  professor  in  Robert  College,  Constantinople,  and  one  of  the  trans- 
lators of  the  Bible  into  the  Bulgarian  tongue. 


654  ^'^^''-    -yi'-THODISrS.  [Chap.  xxv. 

Missions,  auxiliary  to  the  American  Board.  In  April 
E.  W.  Parker  and  wife,  of  India,  Mrs.  William  Butler,  wife  of 
the  founder  of  the  India  mission,  and  William  F.  Warren 
and  wife,  who  had  returned  from  service  in  the  mission  in 
Germany,  conferred,  with  the  result  that  Parker  wrote  to 
the  Missionary  Society  with  reference  to  a  proposed  mis- 
sionary organization  of  Methodist  women  in  Boston.  Sec- 
retary Durbin  held  a  conference  with  these  ladies  on  the 
7th  of  May,  1869,  and  after  some  correspondence  concern- 
ing possible  difficulties  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  was  organized.  It  was  to  confine  its  labors  to 
sending  female  missionaries  to  women  in  foreign  mission 
fields  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  its  work 
was  to  be  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  parent  society, 
collisions  at  home  to  be  avoided  by  taking  no  collections 
or  subscriptions  in  any  promiscuous  assembly,  and  they 
were  to  raise  their  moneys  in  such  a  way  as  would  not 
interfere  with  the  income  of  the  parent  society. 

This  society  prospered  greatly,  for  the  work  and  its 
supervision  commanded  public  confidence.  It  now  has 
nearly  two  hundred  thousand  members,  and  publishes  the 
"  Woman's  Missionary  Friend  "  and  the  "  Children's  Mis- 
sionary Friend,"  each  having  a  large  circulation.  The 
former  has  been  so  well  managed  financially  that  it  has 
contributed  more  than  $30,000  toward  the  publication  of 
miscellaneous  literature. 

At  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  it  appeared  that  it 
had  sent  235  missionaries  to  the  foreign  field,  of  whom  34 
were  medical  graduates;  it  was  then  supporting  146,  of 
whom  1 18  were  in  the  field  and  28  at  home  with  impaired 
health,  and  maintaining  383  day-schools  and  41  boarding- 
schools,  10  orphanages  and  8  training-schools,  besides  3 
homes  for  homeless  women,  and  i  3  hospitals  and  dispen- 


IFOMAX'S  HOME  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY.  655 

saries.  The  society  raised  and  disbursed  previous  to  the 
close  of  1895,  $3,740,910- 

The  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  dates  from 
June  8,  1880,  and  was  the  result  of  the  approval  by  the 
General  Conference  of  that  year  of  work  which  had  been 
done,  auxiliary  to  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  by  ladies 
who  had  cooperated  with  it.  The  society  attributes  its 
origin  to  Bishop  Wiley.  Its  success  is  due  in  large  part 
to  the  character,  influence,  and  judgment  of  its  presidents. 

It  has  erected  cottage  homes  in  connection  with  the 
colleges  of  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  provided  for  the 
work  in  Utah  a  building  at  a  cost  of  $6000,  and  nine  other 
buildings,  besides  maintaining  mission  schools  in  twelve 
places,  and  establishing  the  Lucy  Webb  Hayes  Training- 
school  for  deaconesses  in  Washington,  D.  C,  in  honor  of 
Mrs.  Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  its  president  during  the  first 
nine  years  of  its  history.  It  also  established  missions  of 
importance  and  deaconesses'  homes,  devoting  much  of  its 
attention  and  means  to  the  Indians,  and  reinforcing  the 
efforts  of  pastors  to  maintain  missions  in  regions  of  the 
country  where  the  resources  of  the  people  have  been  tem- 
porarily cut  off.  Mrs.  Hayes  was  succeeded  by  Mrs.  John 
Davis,  of  Cincinnati,  and  she  by  Mrs.  Clinton  B.  Fisk,  of 
New  York. 

The  missions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
foreign  lands,  with  two  or  at  most  but  three  exceptions, 
are  prospering  beyond  any  expectation  which  was  reason- 
able when  they  were  established.  An  encyclopedia  would 
be  required  to  describe  them  worthily  geographically,  eth- 
nologically,  ecclesiastically,  and  as  fields  for  the  display  of 
the  most  heroic  qualities  of  human  nature,  fortified  and 
stimulated  by  divine  grace. 

At  the  present  time  the  funds  of  the  parent  society  are 
divided  between  home  and  foreign  work  in  the   ratio  of 


656  THE   METHODISTS.  [Ciiak  \xv. 

forty-five  per  cent,  to  the  home  and  fift}--five  per  cent,  to 
tlie  foreign. 

Besides  numerous  schools  of  different  grades,  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  sustains  seventy-six  regularly  estab- 
lished academies,  colleges,  and  universities  in  foreign  lands, 
among  which  are  the  Anglo-Chinese  College  and  Theo- 
logical Seminary  at  Foo-chow,  the  Peking  University,  the 
Bareilly  Theological  Seminary,  the  Lucknovv  Woman's 
College,  the  Anglo- Japanese  College,  the  Copenhagen 
Theological  Institute,  the  Martin  Institute  at  Frankfort, 
Germany  (named  in  honor  of  John  T.  Martin,  a  layman  of 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  who  gave  for  it  $25,000  as  a  part  of  his 
contribution  to  the  centennial  of  American  Methodism), 
and  the  Theological  School  in  Rome,  Italy. 

The  receipts  of  the  society  from  the  beginning  to  the 
closeof  1895  were$30,795,462.83,  of  which  $26,106,776. 19 
had  been  contributed  by  the  people,  $1,686,222.36  were 
the  proceeds  of  bequests,  and  the  remainder  is  classed  in 
the  reports  under  sundries,  except  $253,232.50,  given  by 
the  American  Bible  Society  at  different  periods,  chiefly  in 
copies  of  the  Scriptures  for  missionary  work.  $12,533,767 
have  been  spent  in  foreign  lands. 

This  vast  property,  with  its  thousands  of  schools,  its 
colleges  and  theological  seminaries,  could  not  have  been 
achieved  without  the  cooperation  of  the  laity,  who  have 
contributed  large  sums  for  the  purchase  of  property,  the 
erection  of  churches,  the  support  of  special  enterprises, 
and  for  the  endowment  of  schools,  and  bequeathed  in  the 
aggregate  vast  amounts  to  the  societies. 

Among  the  most  noteworthy  of  these  laymen  was  Har- 
old Dollner,  a  Dane,  originally  intended  for  the  Lutheran 
ministry,  who,  filled  with  the  spirit  of  maritime  adventure 
so  prevalent  in  his  country,  shipped  as  a  sailor,  and  after 
many  hardships  landed  in  Boston,  Mass.,  where  he  wan- 


CHURCH   EXTEXSION   SOCIEJY.  657 

dered  into  the  Seamen's  Bethel,  and  was  converted  under 
the  influence  and  by  the  instructions  of  Father  Taylor, 
together  with  the  aid  of  Danes,  who  were  witnesses  to  him 
of  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation.  He  went  into  busi- 
ness in  New  York,  accumulated  a  fortune,  and  was  for  many 
years  consul-general  of  Denmark  to  the  United  States,  and 
frequently  acting  minister.  For  a  long  time  he  gave  $1000 
per  annum  toward  missions,  and  was  a  manager  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Society,  which  he  made  his  residuary  legatee,  the 
society  receiving  from  his  estate  about  $  1 00,000.  The  large 
church  in  Copenhagen  was  chiefly  built  by  his  contribu- 
tions, and  he  made  frequent  visits  to  Denmark,  his  presence 
always  inspiring  the  missionaries  to  greater  zeal. 

.The  work  of  the  Church  Extension  Society  is  confined 
to  the  United  States,  and  it  is  impossible  to  overestimate 
the  value  of  the  results  which  have  been  achieved  by  it  in 
cooperation  with  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  and  other 
spiritual  agencies.  It  aids  in  the  erection  of  churches  by 
direct  gifts,  and  by  loans  which  are  secured  by  mortgages, 
the  collection  of  which,  when  necessary,  is  enforced  in  the 
courts. 

The  society  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  has 
had  the  benefit  of  the  cumulative  experience  and  firm  ad- 
herence to  its  rules  of  the  senior  corresponding  secretary. 
And  equally  fortunate  was  it  for  him  and  for  the  church 
that  he  should  be  reinforced  by  the  magic  of  McCabe,  and 
that  the  latter,  when  transferred  to  the  Missionary  Society, 
should  be  succeeded  by  William  A.  Spencer,  who  brought 
equal  endurance  and  zeal  to  the  work.  It  has,  like  the 
Missionary  Society,  received  the  cooperation  of  the  bishops, 
who  are  ex  officio  members,  and  of  the  most  efficient  min- 
isters and  laymen  who  have  constituted  its  board  of  man- 
agers. 

During  the  history  of  the  society  $3,621,150.29  have 


658  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxv. 

been  expended  on  the  general  fund.  The  capital  of  the 
loan  fund  at  present  is  $988,598.87.  Since  the  establish- 
ment of  that  fund  $1,025,746.87  loaned  have  been  re- 
turned. By  these  sums  10,083  churches  have  been  aided. 
Witiiout  this  assistance  many  societies  would  have  disinte- 
grated, while  by  far  the  majority  of  those  owning  churches 
would  be  meagerly  accommodated. 

The  Book  Concern,  whose  beginning  was  so  humble, 
has  become  a  power  of  high  importance  as  a  means  of 
propagandism.  The  sales  of  the  Eastern  house  in  the  last 
four  years  amounted  to  $4,000,000,  and  its  assets  are  valued 
at  $2,536,065.62.  Those  of  the  Western  house  were  also 
about  $4,000,000,  and  its  assets  reach  $1,500,000.  Dur- 
ing the  last  four  years  $505,000  of  the  produce  of  both 
Concerns  were  distributed  to  the  conferences  for  the  sup- 
port of  worn-out  preachers  and  of  the  widows  and  orphans 
of  ministers. 

The  vast  circulation  of  its  books  and  periodicals,  and  of 
books,  published  by  other  houses,  which  are  found  desirable 
for  Sunday-school  and  other  libraries,  are  stimulants  to  de- 
nominational and  individual  Christian  activity,  and  guides 
to  those  who  desire  to  dex'ote  with  the  least  waste  their 
gifts  and  efforts  to  the  enterprises  of  the  church.  The  profits 
promote  the  interests  of  every  other  cause  which  appeals 
to  the  people  for  special  gifts,  by  relieving  the  church  of 
the  necessity  of  raising  the  amount  that  would  be  demanded 
for  those  to  whom  these  profits  are  applied  ;  and  it  is  aimed 
to  do  this  without  either  making  prices  so  high  as  to  be  an 
undesirable  tax  upon  Christian  literature,  or  to  render  the 
people  indifferent  to  the  needs  of  those  who  have  consumed 
their  strength  in  the  service  of  the  church. 

One  of  the  advantages  of  the  system  is  that  in  frontier 
or  poverty-stricken  regions  papers  and  periodicals  and 
centers  for  the  circulation  of  necessary  books  can  be  es- 


THE   PRESS.  659 

tablished  and  maintained  from  the  general  fund,  until  the 
locality  so  prospers  as  to  become  self-supporting ;  in  this 
way  some  of  the  most  important  of  the  church  periodicals 
were  made  possible.  So  obvious  are  the  benefits  of  such 
an  institution  that  nearly  every  branch  of  Methodism  in  the 
world  maintains  something  similar,  those  in  this  country 
being  modeled  upon  that  originally  established  by  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

The  influence  of  the  official  press  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  undoubtedly  contributed  greatly  to 
the  permanence  and  harmonious  working  of  its  complex 
system.  It  has  defended  the  doctrines  and  usages  of  the 
church  from  attack,  explained  misunderstandings,  and 
purveyed  to  the  ministry  and  laity  official  information. 

A  large  semi-official  and  independent  press  has  gradually 
grown  up,  the  influence  of  which  must  be  considered  in 
every  estimate  of  the  forces  of  Methodism.  Some  are 
devoted  to  specialties,  such  as  the  promotion  of  the  higher 
life ;  the  object  of  others  is  to  supplement  the  official  press 
with  greater  fullness  of  detail  concerning  the  localities  in 
which  they  exist. 

"  Zion's  Herald  "  has  been  edited  by  men  of  such  dis- 
tinguished ability  and  services  that  the  names  of  several 
of  them  have  been  necessarily  mentioned.  Under  B.  K. 
Pierce,  who  held  the  position  for  sixteen  years,  it  was  one 
of  the  best  family  papers  in  the  country.  Under  Charles 
Parkhurst,  who  has  edited  it  for  eight  years,  its  circulation 
has  increased  and  it  has  become  widely  known.  Its  profits 
are  given  to  those  conferences  whose  territory  is  entirely 
in  New  England,  for  the  support  of  worn-out  ministers, 
their  widows  and  orphans. 

The  "  Michigan  Christian  Advocate,"  founded  by  a  stock 
company  of  Methodist  ministers  and  laymen,  and  published 
in  Detroit,  has  been  very  successful,  especially  since  it  has 


66o  TIIK  METHODISTS.  [CiiAi-.  xxv. 

been  edited  by  James  H.  Potts,  who  was  associate  editor 
for  some  years  with  the  late  J.  M.  Arnold.  Its  circulation 
is  large,  and  after  paying  a  certain  stipulated  interest  to 
the  owners  of  the  stock  on  the  capital  invested,  it  gives  its 
profits  to  the  Michigan  and  Detroit  conferences  for  the 
same  purpose  as  that  to  which  are  applied  the  proceeds 
of  the  Book  Concern. 

Authors,  many  of  wide  repute,  have  been  numerous  in 
all  branches  of  Methodism,  naturally  more  so  in  the  lar- 
gest numerically.  Their  doctrinal,  homiletical,  educational, 
philanthropic,  historical,  and  practical  works  ha\e  been  use- 
ful. And  when  they  have  dealt  worthily  with  themes  not 
directly  connected  with  church  work  the  reputation  gained 
by  them  has  accrued  to  the  credit  of  their  ecclesiastical 
relations. 

The  Sunday-school  Union  is  a  valuable  means  both  of 
propagandism  and  philanthropy,  by  assisting  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  Sunday-schools  and  by  making  donations  of 
Christian  literature  and  books  for  study;  and  by  it  are 
aided  the  Sunday-schools  in  foreign  missions  as  well  as  in 
the  United  States.  The  tract  department  has  operated  in 
the  foreign  field  since  1854,  and  grants  have  been  made 
to  every  foreign  mission  of  the  church,  and  also  to  France. 
Tracts  are  systematically  distributed  to  immigrants,  to 
soldiers  and  sailors,  and  in  hospitals,  prisons,  and  asylums, 
also  to  pastors  for  their  regular  work.  During  the  year 
1895,  2575  churches  have  applied  for  and  received  such 
aid.  More  than  a  million  copies,  averaging  ten  pages  each, 
were  printed  in  English  at  New  York,  and  two  hundred 
thousand  in  German  at  Cincinnati.  It  publishes  several 
useful  and  widely  circulated  periodicals. 

The  Freedmen's  Aid  and  Southern  Education  Society 
has  expended  more  than  $4,000,000  in  establishing  and 
supporting   institutions   of   learning   in    the    South.      The 


EDUCATIOXAL    WORK  IN   THE   SOUTH.  66 1 

number  of  schools  among  the  people  of  African  descent  is 
22,  of  which  lo  have  a  collegiate  grade,  i  is  a  theological 
seminary,  and  ii  are  academies.  Among  these  the  Gam- 
mon Theological  Seminary  at  Atlanta  has  risen  to  the  first 
rank,  as  has  also  Clark  University,  of  which  it  was  originally 
a  department.  The  institutions  of  a  collegiate  grade  are 
located  in  the  midst  of  a  large  colored  population.  The 
colleges  enroll  at  present  3139  students,  the  academies 
1622,  and  the  theological  seminary  84. 

Of  the  schools  maintained  for  whites,  3  are  colleges,  with 
1559  students;  the  19  academies  contain  2021  students. 
Of  the  8425  in  the  Southern  institutions  under  the  con- 
trol of  this  society,  219  are  preparing  for  the  ministry, 
225  studying  medicine,  12  dentistry,  12  pharmacy.  In  the 
manual-training  and  trade  schools  are  1549  colored  stu- 
dents. Valuable  as  are  these  institutions  as  a  means  of 
denominational  propagandism,  both  patriotism  and  phil- 
anthropy are  conspicuously  illustrated  by  them. 

The  Board  of  Education  was  invested  by  the  General 
Conference  of  1892  with  a  very  limited  supervisory  care 
of  the  higher  institutions,  in  that  it  was  authorized  to 
recognize  in  its  official  list  as  colleges  only  such  as  meet 
the  requirements  formulated  by  the  University  Senate, 
which  regulate  the  studies  that  must  have  been  completed 
in  a  satisfactory  manner  by  candidates  for  admission  to 
college  to  study  with  reference  to  securing  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts,  Bachelor  of  Science,  Bachelor  of  Phil- 
osophy, or  Bachelor  of  Letters.  In  order  to  be  recog- 
nized as  a  college  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  an 
institution  must  present  and  require  the  mastery  of  courses 
of  instruction  sufficient  to  occupy  candidates  for  the  degree 
fifteen  hours  or  more  a  week  for  at  least  thirty-two  weeks 
of  four  successive  years.  The  curriculum  must  be  of  a 
high  grade,  and   two  thirds   of  the   instructors    must  be 


662  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxv. 

alumni  of  colleges.  There  must  be  one  course  covering 
the  historical  and  literary  study  of  the  Bible  in  the  ver- 
nacular; some  other  particulars  are  added,  but  the  other 
courses  are  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  governing  bodies 
of  the  colleges  themselves. 

The  funds  of  this  society  are  derived  from  interest  on 
amounts  given  in  the  centennial  year,  and  by  collections 
upon  Children's  day,  which  the  General  Conference  has 
ordered  to  be  observed  throughout  the  church.  Loans 
are  made  to  students  on  a  condition  that  the  beneficiaries 
be  members  of  a  Methodist  Episcopal  church  and  ordi- 
narily attending.  The  number  of  students  aided  up  to 
1896  is  6595  ;  923  of  these  were  preparing  for  the  min- 
istry, 145  for  missionary  work,  278  for  teaching.  The 
average   amount   loaned   to  each  beneficiary  is  $91.54. 

To  secure  a  loan  the  applicant  must  be  recommended 
by  the  Quarterly  Conference  of  the  church  to  which  he 
belongs,  and  make  application  to  the  president  or  principal 
of  the  institution  which  he  attends.  A  note  is  required, 
which  the  signer  is  legally  and  morally  bound  to  pay  as 
soon  as  able.  The  General  Conference  authorizes  the 
board  to  cancel  a  loan  in  whole  or  in  part  on  account  of 
protracted  ill  health,  or  for  five  years'  actual  missionary 
service.  The  amount  loaned  in  the  twenty-two  years  is 
$603,579.59,  and  only  $50,774.16  have  been  returned. 
This  proportion  suggests  serious  problems,  to  which  the 
attention  of  the  church  was  directed  in  1896.  In  discus- 
sion attention  was  directed  to  the  facts  that  during  the 
first  six  years  of  the  society's  history  notes  were  not  re- 
quired, and  that  until  quite  recently  an  erroneous  impres- 
sion prevailed  that  when  one  entered  the  missionary  ser- 
vice his  notes  were  immediately  canceled  ;  that  a  large 
majority  receiving  loans  have  gone  into  fields  where  they 
have  received  but  a  pittance,  and  with  the  increase  of  fam- 


BOARD    OF  EDUCATION.  663 

ilies  have  found  it  difficult  to  lay  aside  anything  for  pay- 
ing their  debts ;  that  a  considerable  number  of  accounts 
have  been  canceled  by  death,  ill  health,  misfortune,  and 
missionary  service ;  that  eighty-six  per  cent,  of  the  whole 
amount  has  been  loaned  within  the  last  twelve  years,  sixty- 
eight  per  cent,  during  the  last  eight,  and  forty-four  per 
cent,  during  the  last  four  years,  and  that,  accordingly,  in 
a  majority  of  cases  payments  could  not  be  expected  for 
some  years  to  come.  From  the  last  consideration  it  is 
argued  that  larger  returns  must  be  expected. 

The  subject,  however,  is  one  that  has  given  perplexity 
to  other  religious  denominations ;  for  the  advantage  of 
such  assistance  would  be  much  discounted  if  with  edu- 
cation so  obtained  there  was  a  diminution  of  the  sense  of 
honor. 

The  educational  institutions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  within  the  past  thirty  years  have  received  many 
gifts.  Besides  those  elsewhere  mentioned,  Wesleyan  Uni- 
versity received  a  noble  hall  erected  at  the  cost  of  Orange 
Judd,  one  of  its  alumni,  the  value  of  which,  with  his  other 
gifts,  amounted  to  $100,000.  This  institution,  under  the 
presidency  of  Joseph  Cummings,  was  distinguished  by  an 
extraordinary  improvement  in  grounds  and  buildings ; 
under  that  of  Cyrus  Foss  by  a  steady  growth  in  the  ele- 
ments which  attract  public  respect  and  confidence ;  under 
that  of  John  W.  Beach  by  contributions  from  George  I. 
Seney,  amounting  to  $350,000.  Under  Bradford  P.  Ray- 
mond there  has  been  an  increase  in  students  and  facil- 
ities for  instruction,  the  latter  to  a  considerable  degree 
made  possible  by  the  bestowment  of  $300,000  by  Daniel 
Ayres,  M.D.,  $200,000  of  which  was  presented  in  one  sum, 
for  the  promotion  of  science,  particularly  in  the  depart- 
ment of  biology,  and  by  a  bequest  of  $100,000  by  D.  B. 
Fayerweather,  a  merchant  of  New  York. 


664  THE    METHODISTS.  [Chai-.  xxv. 

Drew  Thcoloij^ical  Seminary  has  met  a  need  so  generally 
felt  that,  although  deprived  of  its  first  president  by  death, 
and  of  its  second  and  third  by  their  election  to  the  episco- 
I)acy,  under  the  direction  of  Henry  A.  Buttz,  who,  after 
having  been  connected  with  the  institution  as  a  professor 
from  its  foundation,  has  been  president  since  1880,  it  has 
had  steadily  increasing  success,  and  has  been  made  justly 
famous  by  the  careers  of  its  professors,  two  of  whom, 
James  Strong,  the  Hebraist  and  voluminous  author,  and 
John  Miley,  the  theologian,  have  recently  died,  the  chairs 
being  filled  by  men  who  bring  the  enthusiasm  of  youth 
and  the  most  modern  results  of  learning  to  their  respect- 
ive spheres.  To  the  buildings  given  by  the  founder  have 
been  added  a  fine  library  hall,  to  which  the  largest  contrib- 
utor was  John  B.  Cornell,  a  trustee,  and  the  Hoyt-Bowne 
Dormitory,  accommodating  one  hundred  students.  This 
beautiful  edifice  was  the  gift  of  William  Hoyt  and  Samuel 
C.  Bowne,  trustees  of  the  seminary. 

Edward  Thomson,  the  renowned  president  of  the  Ohio 
Wesleyan  University,  was  succeeded  by  Frederick  Merrick 
in  i860,  who  held  the  position  thirteen  years,  and  to  him 
is  the  institution  indebted  for  its  financial  prosperity  and 
for  valuable  services  in  every  capacity.  For  three  years 
after  his  resignation  L.  D.  McCabe,  one  of  the  original  fac- 
ulty, was  acting  president,  at  the  expiration  of  which  time 
Charles  H.  Payne  was  elected  president,  and  gave  suc- 
cessful years  to  the  duties  of  the  position.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  J.  W.  Bashford,  who  has  inspired  faculty,  trus- 
tees, and  students  with  enthusiasm. 

Dickinson  College,  whose  long  and  diversified  history  is 
elsewhere  outlined,  under  the  leadership  of  President 
George  E.  Reed  has  established  a  law  school,  erected  a 
commodious  building,  and  increased  the  number  of  its 
students. 


COLLEGES   AXD    UNLVERSITLES.  665 

Syracuse  University,  one  of  the  youngest,  has  accumu- 
lated property  worth  nearly  $2,000,000,  and  has  a  thousand 
students.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  events  of  its  history 
occurred  under  the  administration  of  Chancellor  Sims,  and 
was  the  erection  of  the  Grouse  Memorial  College,  costing 
nearly  $250,000.  It  was  the  gift  of  John  Crouse,  a  citizen 
of  Syracuse,  a  merchant,  whose  denominational  affiliations 
were  Presbyterian.  Under  the  new  impulse  given  by  the 
election,  as  chancellor,  of  James  R.  Day,  it  is  making  rapid 
strides  toward  the  fulfillment  of  the.  high  thought  of  its 
founders.  A  thoroughly  equipped  law  school  has  recently 
been  established  and  the  medical  department  reinforced. 

The  University  of  Denver,  which  was  opened  as  such 
in  1880,  and  was  for  nine  years  thereafter  under  the 
chancellorship  of  D.  H.  Moore,  already  has  theological, 
medical,  and  law  departments,  and  has  been  the  recipient 
of  many  benefactions,  among  them  the  Chamberlain  Ob- 
servatory and  a  handsome  building,  the  Ilifif  School  of 
Theology, — a  gift  of  W.  S.  IliflF,  an  alumnus  of  the  uni- 
versity, as  a  memorial  of  his  father,  John  Wesley  Iliff. 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Iliff  Warren  has  endowed  the  School  of 
Theology  with  $100,000. 

Cornell  College,  in  Iowa,  was  named  for  William  W. 
Cornell,  of  New  York  City,  a  benefactor  of  the  institution. 
William  F.  King,  the  president,  was  elected  thirty-one 
years  ago,  after  having  been  acting  president  during  the 
two  preceding  years,  and  the  college  enjoys  the  distinction 
of  retaining  its  president  longer  than  any  other  institution 
in  Methodism  has  done. 

Allegheny  College,  Pennsylvania,  the  alma  mater  of 
Bishops  Simpson  and  Kingsley,  and  of  William  McKinley. 
of  Ohio,  after  vicissitudes  in  recent  years,  promises  perma- 
nence and  improvement  under  the  energetic  management 
of  its  president,  William  H.  Crawford. 


666  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxv. 

The  Illinois  Wesleyan  University,  whose  president  is 
W.  H.  Wilder,  reported,  in  1895,  1625  students,  and  this 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Hedding  College  in  the  same 
State,  under  J.  G.  Evans,  is  prosperous. 

Hamline  University,  named  for  Bishop  Hamline,  who 
presented  it  with  $25,000  as  a  foundation,  has  a  fortunate 
location  midway  between  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul,  and, 
after  many  years  of  disaster,  under  the  guidance  of  Presi- 
dent G.  H.  Bridgman  and  a  sagacious  board  of  trustees 
has  for  some  years  been  advancing  with  steady  steps  to- 
ward the  realization  of  the  ideal  of  a  liberal  education 
under  denominational  supervision. 

Albion  College,  in  Michigan,  notwithstanding  the  tend- 
ency toward  the  vast  university  supported  by  the  State, 
was  never  so  prosperous  as  it  now  is  under  the  manage- 
ment of  President  Fiske,  who  has  been  in  charge  of  it  for 
nineteen  years. 

Lawrence  University,  at  Appleton,  Wis.,  derived  its 
original  impulse  from  a  proposition  made  by  the  noted 
Amos  Lawrence,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  himself  not  a  Methodist, 
to  give  $10,000,  provided  the  Methodists  of  Wisconsin 
would  raise  an  equal  amount,  to  establish  a  college  in  that 
part  of  Wisconsin.  The  site  of  Appleton  was  then  a  wilder- 
ness ;  there  was  not  a  house  for  many  miles,  the  building 
of  the  academic  department  being  one  of  the  first  in  the 
settlement.  Its  presidents  have  been  eminent  educators. 
Edward  Cooke,  who  became  favorably  known  as  the  first 
principal  of  Pennington  Seminary,  New  Jersey  (founded 
in  1839),  was  its  first  president;  R.  Z.  Mason,  George 
M.  Steele,  and  B.  P.  Raymond  were  his  successors. 

The  Central  Tennessee  College,  under  President  Braden, 
at  Nashville,  has  steadih'  gained  until  it  is  respected 
throughout  the  South. 

The   U.  S.    Grant   University,  at  Athens  and  Chatta- 


OTHER  INSTITUTIONS   OF  HIGH  GRADE.  667 

nooga,  Tenn.,  formed  by  the  union  of  a  new  institution 
with  the  East  Tennessee  University,  was  opened  at  Athens 
in  1865.  The  school  of  theology,  already  influential, 
the  medical,  pharmaceutical,  and  business  colleges  are  at 
Chattanooga ;  the  college,  college  preparatory,  English, 
normal,  and  musical  courses  being  conducted  at  Athens. 
Bishop  I.  W.  Joyce  is  chancellor. 

Boston  University  has  had  the  rare  experience  of  having 
but  one  president  in  the  entire  course  of  its  history,  Wil- 
liam Fairfield  Warren,  whose  plans  have  broadened  even 
beyond  the  expectations  of  the  founders  and  the  resources 
furnished  by  later  donors.  Its  law  school  has  become 
renowned  ;  its  theological  school  is  overcrowded,  and  all  its 
departments  are  prospering,  while  several  of  its  professors 
have  united  efficiency  as  instructors  with  wide  reputations 
as  authors,  either  in  their  specialties  or  in  general  literature. 

The  Northwestern  University  prospered  under  the 
brief  presidency  of  Dr.  Fowler,  and  when  he  was  elected 
editor  of  the  "  Christian  Advocate,"  Joseph  Cummings, 
who  was  chosen  to  succeed  him,  brought  to  it  the  results 
of  his  eighteen  years'  experience  in  Wesleyan  University ; 
and,  aided  by  a  corporation  whose  members  were  not  only 
able  to  devise  great  things  but  willing  to  contribute  liber- 
ally to  their  execution,  it  constantly  expanded.  At  the 
death  of  President  Cummings,  the  university  departed 
from  the  prevailing  custom  and  selected,  to  fill  the  va- 
cancy, a  layman,  Henry  Wade  Rogers,  at  that  time  dean 
of  the  law  school  of  the  University  of  Michigan.  The 
number  of  students  has  continually  increased,  and  new  en- 
terprises are  projected. 

Garrett  Biblical  Institute  grew  steadily  in  influence, 
under  the  presidencies  of  Ninde  and  Ridgaway,  aided  by 
a  corps  of  professors  of  ability,  among  whom  was  the  late 
professor  of  historical  theology.  Dr.  Charles  W.  Bennett, 


668  THE  aMETHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxv. 

wiio  produced  a  learned  work  on  Cliristian  archa,'ology, 
the  first  on  that  subject  which  appeared  on  American 
soil.  Upon  the  death  of  President  Ridgawa}',  Professor 
Charles  J.  Little  succeeded  him,  and  the  institution,  with 
various  changes  already  made  or  in  progress,  is  better 
adapted  to  its  work  than  ever  before. 

Tlie  Folts  Mission  Institute  at  Herkimer,  N.  Y.,  founded 
by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  P.  Folts  by  gifts  in  money  and 
buildings  amounting  to  more  than  $50,000,  was  opened 
September  13,  1893.  It  does  not  design  to  compete  with 
the  academy,  college,  or  theological  seminar}-,  but,  while 
offering  special  facilities  to  those  who  intend  to  be  foreign 
or  home  missionaries,  it  aims  to  furnish  the  best  oppor- 
tunities for  all  who  propose  to  be  Christian  workers, 
whatever  their  field  and  whether  or  not  they  have  been 
graduated  from  colleges. 

Within  little  more  than  a  decade  has  come  into  existence, 
and  reached  a  higher  position  than  many  prosperous  in- 
stitutions have  been  able  to  attain  in  half  a  century,  the 
Woman's  College  of  Baltimore. 

Many  years  ago  a  seminary  was  established  within  the 
bounds  of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  but  in  an  emergency, 
for  the  want  of  a  few  thousand  dollars,  it  was  sold  to  the 
Roman  Catholics,  with  the  effect  of  discouraging  the  con- 
ference. P>om  time  to  time  a  canvassing  committee  was 
appointed,  but  nothing  was  accomplished.  In  1882  John 
V .  Goucher  beciime  a  member  of  this  committee,  served 
one  year,  and  subsequently  maintained  a  close  relation 
to  it,  finally  becoming  so  much  interested  as  to  make 
the  establishment  of  an  institution  for  the  education  of 
women  within  the  bounds  of  that  conference  one  of 
the  objects  of  his  gifts  in  connection  with  the  celebration 
of  the  one  hundredth  anni\'crsary  of  the  organization  of 
the    Methodist    PLpiscopal  Church.      It  was    proposed    to 


THE  NEWEST  ENTERPRISES.  669 

establish  an  ordinary  conference  seminary,  and  division 
of  sentiment  arose  in  the  conference ;  but  at  its  session 
in  1883  it  decided  to  estabHsh  an  institution  of  the  first 
grade  for  the  higher  education  of  women.  The  con- 
ference manifested  its  sincerity  by  pledging  $40,000, 
•and  during  the  succeeding  year  additional  gifts  swelled 
the  amount  to  $200,000.  Just  before  the  session  of  1884 
a  board  of  trustees  was  organized,  with  E.  G.  Andrews, 
the  resident  bishop  in  Washington,  as  president.  In  1885 
the  Woman's  College  of  Baltimore  was  incorporated,  and 
the  first  building  and  its  site,  the  two  valued  at  $165,000, 
were  the  gift  of  John  F.  Goucher.  The  college  was 
opened  in  September,  1888. 

Since  that  time  have  been  erected  Bennett  Hall,  cost- 
ing $78,000,  the  Bennett  Hall  Annex,  built  at  an  outlay 
of  $54,600,  the  Catharine  Belle  Hooper  Hall,  on  which, 
with  its  furnishings,  was  expended  $108,000,  and  four 
homes  averaging  $75,000  each,  together  with  valuable 
additions  to  the  grounds,  making  a  property  worth  $868,- 
000;  and  an  endowment  of  nearly  $400,000  has  been 
accumulated.  The  grounds  coA-er  six  acres  in  the  north- 
central  section  of  the  city,  and  the  original  plan  contem- 
plates seventeen  buildings.  The  gymnasium  is  one  of  the 
finest  in  the  country.  The  president  is  John  F.  Goucher, 
and  the  college  has  about  five  hundred  students.  Consid- 
ered in  connection  with  the  amount  of  money  contributed, 
the  time  in  which  the  buildings  were  erected  and  furnished, 
the  number  of  students,  and  the  high  rank  uni\'ersally  ac- 
corded, it  is  the  most  extraordinary  educational  project  that 
has  arisen  in  Methodism  in  Europe  or  America. 

An  institution  designed  to  extend  its  influence  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  hoping 
to  derive  sympathy  and  support  from  all  American  Meth- 
odism, is  the   American   University.      Nearly   fifty   years 


670  THE   MElJIODISrs.  [Chap.  nxv. 

ago  Bishops  Simpson  and  Ames  suggested  the  wisdom  of 
estabhshing  at  the  capital,  under  the  auspices  of  Ameri- 
can Methodism,  an  institution  of  the  highest  grade ;  from 
1880  to  1890  it  was  increasingly  a  subject  of  consideration, 
and  when  Bishop  Hurst  removed  from  Buffalo  to  Washing- 
ton he  became  deeply  interested  in  it.  A  site  of  ninety- 
two  acres  in  the  suburbs  of  Washington,  the  citizens  of 
Washington  subsequently  furnishing  the  purchase  price, 
$100,000  (now  valued  at  not  less  than  four  times  its  cost), 
was  secured  on  the  25th  of  January,  1890,  by  the  payment 
of  an  option  of  $1000.  In  March  a  convention  was  held 
in  the  Metropolitan  Church  to  promote  its  interests;  on 
the  14th  of  April  a  letter  and  contribution  were  received 
from  George  Bancroft,  the  historian,  and  the  27th  of  that 
month  was  observed  as  University  Sunday  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  churches  of  Washington.  The  bishops,  at  their 
spring  meeting,  approved  the  establishment  of  such  a  uni- 
v^ersity,  and  in  November  of  the  same  year  a  mass-meeting 
was  held  in  Washington,  at  which  a  letter  of  approval  and 
encouragement  was  read  from  President  Harrison,  and 
addresses  were  delivered  by  five  of  the  bishops  and 
others. 

The  university  was  organized  at  a  meeting  in  W'ashing- 
ton,  May  28,  1891,  and  thirty-six  trustees,  a  chancellor, 
secretary,  and  registrar  were  elected  in  August.  Bishop 
Hurst,  as  chancellor,  appealed  to  American  Methodism  for 
$10,000,000  for  buildings  and  endowments. 

The  General  Conference  of  1892  adopted  the  unixersity, 
approved  its  trustees,  and  authorized  an  offering  in  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  churches  on  Sunday  the  i6th  of  the  fol- 
lowing October,  "  provided  that  the  endowment  of  the 
institution  be  not  less  than  $5,000,000  over  and  aboxe 
its  present  real  estate  before  any  department  of  the 
university  shall  be  opened."  '  Large  gifts  have  been  re- 
1  "  Journal  of  General  Conference  of  1892,"  p.  472. 


THE   CHAUTAUQUA    MOVEMENT.  67 1 

ceived.  A  gentleman  in  Ohio  in  1893  increased  the  en- 
dowment by  the  gift  of  $100,000;  in  1894  a  lady  in  New 
York  gave  more  than  $100,000  for  the  endowment  of  a 
professorship  in  histor}'.  The  same  year  the  university 
was  indorsed  and  approved  by  the  General  Conference  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  in  1895  $150,- 
000  were  subscribed  by  the  trustees  for  a  Hall  of  History, 
the  corner-stone  of  which  was  laid  October  21,  1896;  also 
a  promise  was  received  from  General  J.  Watts  de  Peyster, 
of  New  York,  of  funds  for  the  erection  of  the  Hall  of 
Languages. 

The  enterprise  has  been  projected  upon  such  a  scale  that 
many  years  will  be  required  to  complete  it,  but  its  com- 
pletion and  adequate  endowment  are  within  the  bounds  of 
possibility  ;  and  if,  according  to  the  plan,  it  is  devoted 
exclusively  to  postgraduate  work,  it  may  become  a  true 
complement  and  culmination  of  that  vast  scheme  of  Ameri- 
can Methodist  education  through  church  cooperation,  to 
promote  which  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  added 
$800,000  a  year  for  thirty  years  to  its  property  devoted  to 
that  work,  which  furnishes  facilities  for  the  43,322  students 
reported  at  the  close  of  the  year  1895.^ 

An  educational  system  known  as  the  Chautauqua  move- 
ment, unique  in  the  modern  world,  but  finding  its  proto- 
type in  the  academic  groves  of  ancient  Greece,  was  founded 
by  John  H.  Vincent  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty  as  corre- 
sponding secretary  of  the  Sunday-school  Union  and  Tract 
Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Convinced 
by  observation  and  experience  that  Sunday-school  teachers 
generally  were  imperfectly  qualified  for  the  responsible 
work,  in  1874  a  Sunday-school  assembly  was  held  at  a 
place   then   known   as   Fair  Point,  on  Chautauqua   Lake, 

1  An  official  list  of  the  colleges  and  universities  under  Methodist  Episcopal 
auspices  in  the  United  States  may  be  found  in  the  Appendix,  pp.  698,  699. 
There  are  sixt)'  classical  seminaries,  in  addition  to  those  in  foreign  lands. 
The  church  has  twenty  distinctively  theological  institutions. 


672  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chai-.  xxv. 

New  York,  which  consists  of  a  beautiful  grove  on  a  pro- 
jecting point,  the  plan  being  that  lectures  should  be  de- 
livered upon  appropriate  subjects,  and  teachers  stimulated 
to  a  study  of  the  Scriptures  and  instructed  in  practical  re- 
ligious training  of  children. 

From  that  beginning  the  idea  has  so  expanded  that 
volumes  have  been  devoted  to  its  exposition,  and  progres- 
sive men  from  all  parts  of  the  world  have  visited  the 
United  States  for  the  purpose  of  studying  it  and  repro- 
ducing in  their  own  countries  its  essential  features.  Wil- 
liam R.  Harper,  president  of  the  University  of  Chicago, 
in  an  article  on  John  H.  Vincent,  "  The  Founder  of  the 
Chautauqua  Movement,"  ^  has  produced  in  a  single  para- 
graph a  luminous  condensation:  "  If  the  word  '  Chautau- 
qua '  signified  only  the  local  Chautauqua,  with  its  assembly, 
its  Sunday-school  normal,  its  schools  of  sacred  literature, 
its  schools  of  philosophy,  ancient  literature,  modern  litera- 
ture, mathematics,  and  science,  its  schools  of  physical 
culture,  its  schools  of  practical  work  in  every  line  of  effort, 
and  its  platform  lectures  given  by  men  of  every  country 
and  of  highest  position,  the  work  would  have  been  a 
great  work  and  more  than  sufficient  to  secure  a  lasting 
fame.  But  it  will  be  remembered  that  the  local  Chautau- 
qua is  something  small  and  insignificant  when  compared 
with  the  world-wide  Chautauqua.  When  we  recall  the 
scores  of  Chautauqua  assemblies  throughout  the  United 
States,  the  Oxford  summer  meeting  established  on  the 
basis  of  the  Chautauqua  idea,  the  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  readers  who  have  been  connected  with  the  Chautauqua 
Literary  and  Scientific  Circle,  the  tens  of  thousands  of 
homes  into  which  a  new  light  has  penetrated  as  a  result  of 
the  Chautauqua  idea,  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  books 
which  have  been  bought  and  read  by  those  who  were  eager 

1  Tlie  "  Outlook,"  Soptomber  26,  1896. 


THE  EPVVORTH  LEAGUE.  673 

for  a  learning  which  had  been  denied  them,  we  obtain  a 
faint  conception  of  tiie  meaning  and  significance  of  the 
term  '  Chautauqua.'  " 

In  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  prior  to  May  14, 
1889,  there  were  five  young  people's  societies,  each  hav- 
ing its  own  name,  aims,  methods  of  work,  and  organiza- 
tion, and  each  striving  to  become  the  society  for  the  whole 
church.  It  was  everywhere  felt  that  a  union  of  the  socie- 
ties would  promote  the  interests  of  youth  and  of  the  church 
as  a  whole.  A  call  was  made  by  the  Young  People's  Meth- 
odist Alliance,  the  oldest  and  one  of  the  largest,  to  all  the 
societies  to  assemble  at  Cleveland,  O.  At  this  convention 
were  present  representati\es  of  the  Oxford  League,  the 
Young  People's  Christian  League,  the  Methodist  Young 
People's  Union,  the  Young  People's  Methodist  Episcopal 
Alliance  of  the  North  Ohio  Conference,  and  the  Young 
People's  Methodist  Alliance.  After  discussion  and  much 
prayer  it  was  unanimously  agreed  that  all  existing  societies 
be  merged  into  one  for  the  entire  church,  to  be  called  the 
Ep worth  League  and  to  be  managed  by  a  board  of  con- 
trol. An  elaborate  plan  consisting  of  eight  sections  was 
adopted;  the  society  was  organized,  and  J.  L.  Hurlbut, 
corresponding  secretary  of  the  Sunday-school  Union  and 
Tract  Society,  was  elected  its  corresponding  secretary. 
The  plan  was  subsequently  submitted  to  the  societies  rep- 
resented, and  accepted,  which  gave  900  local  societies  as 
a  foundation.  Six  years  later  14,719  chapters  had  been 
formed,  with  3660  societies  of  Junior  Epworth  Leagues, 
and  a  membership  of  1,250,000. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  the  Meth- 
odist Church  of  Canada  adopted  the  Epworth  League,  and 
the  second  international  Convention  was  held  June,  1895, 
at  Chattanooga,  Tenn. 

The  General  Conference  adopted  the  League,  conserved 


574  '^'^^^-    METHODISTS.  [Ch.m'.  xxv. 

its  interests  in  every  way,  and  made  the  presidents  of  Ep- 
worth  League  chapters  ehgible  to  a  seat  in  the  Quarterly 
Conferences.  The  "  Epworth  Herald,"  under  the  editor- 
ship of  Joseph  F.  Berry,  has  reached  a  weekly  circulation 
of  one  hundred  thousand. 

The  Board  of  Control  is  formed  of  a  certain  number  of 
members  appointed  by  the  bishops,  the  others  being  elected 
by  the  General  Conference  districts.  During  May  and  June, 
1895,  were  enrolled  more  than  eighteen  hundred  regular 
and  junior  chapters.    The  general  secretary  is  E.  A.  Schell. 

A  recent  movement  in  the  church  is  that  known  as  the 
deaconess  work.  German  Methodists  had  made  much  use 
of  deaconesses,  and  the  Mother  House,  in  Frankfort,  begun 
in  1874,  and  in  1876  having  five  deaconesses,  by  1888  owned 
five  large  iiouses,  with  a  clinical  hospital,  and  kept  ninety- 
nine  deaconesses  occupied.'  The  Chicago  Training-school 
for  Cit}',  Home,  and  Foreign  Missions  was  founded  in  1885, 
and  in  June,  1887,  a  few  women  from  this  school  were 
banded  together  for  work  under  direction  of  the  superin- 
tendent and  principal.  The  Rock  River  Conference  ad- 
dressed a  memorial  on  the  subject  of  deaconesses  to  the 
General  Conference  of  1888,  and  that  of  Bengal  in  India 
a  petition  for  deaconesses  to  aid  them  in  converting  and 
edifying  the  inmates  of  the  zenanas.  The  conference 
added  to  the  Discipline  a  plan  legalizing  the  establishment 
of  such  an  office,  and  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety found  the  new  office  preeminently  adapted  to  its 
work,  and  has  established  deaconess  homes  in  Baltimore, 
Brooklyn,  Buffalo,  Cleveland,  Detroit,  Knoxville,  Phila- 
delphia, Pittsburg,  Portland,  Ore.,  San  Francisco,  and  other 
places.  The  first  to  be  opened  was  the  Elizabeth  Gamble 
Deaconess  Home  in  Cincinnati ;  the  New  York  Home  and 

1  "  Missions  and  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church," 
vol.  ii.,  p.  337. 


DBA  COXESSES.  675 

the  Boston  Home  followed  in  1889,  and  in  1890  six  were 
organized.^ 

The  value  of  property  in  1895  already  invested  in  dea- 
coness work  was  $'558,900,  of  which  $173,700  belongs  to 
the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  The  number  of 
deaconesses  and  probationers  is  535.  There  are  7  dea- 
coness homes  and  42  deaconesses  in  India,  and  106  in 
Germany  and  Switzerland.  According  to  the  reports,  in 
one  year  the  deaconesses  have  made  138,794  visits,  cared 
for  2062  sick  persons  at  their  homes,  and  two  thirds  as 
many  more  in  hospitals.^ 

The  first  Methodist  Home  for  the  Aged  and  Infirm  was 
organized  in  Philadelphia,  June  14,  1865,  and  according  to 
the  last  available  report  has  one  hundred  and  three  inmates  ; 
the  second  was  established  in  Baltimore  in  1868,  and  has 
sixty-three  on  its  roll ;  the  next  in  New  York  in  1878,  which 
at  the  last  report  had  nineteen  men  and  ninety-five  women. 
The  Brooklyn  Methodist  Episcopal  Home  was  incorporated 
May  10,  1883,  dedicated  May  18,  1889,  and  has  rooms  for 
sixty  inmates.  The  Old  People's  Home  of  the  St.  Louis 
German  Conference  was  established  in  1890  at  Quincy, 
111.,  by  gift  of  Charles  Pfeiffer,  who  gave  a  building  and 
an  acre  of  land. 

The  interest  in  these  homes  is  increasing,  and  the  day 
will  come  when  every  city  will  open  such  a  haven  of  rest, 
and  in  the  smaller  places  provision  be  made  for  the  care 
in  private  families  of  the  worthy  aged  and  infirm  members 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Institutions  for  orphans  or  other  unfortunate  children 
began  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  by  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Five  Points  Mission  in  New  York  City  in  1850, 
in  which  forty  thousand  children  have  been  aided;  and  in 

1  "  Deaconesses,"  by  Lucy  Rider  jMeyer  (Cranston  &  Stowe),  pp.  (>4-'J2. 
^  "  Methodist  Year-book,"  1896,  p.  102,  A.  B.  Sanford,  editor. 


676  THE  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxv. 

October,  1895,  a  fine  building,  costing  $126,000  and  now 
known  as  the  Church  of  the  People  and  Five  Points  Mis- 
sion, superseded  the  former  inadequate  structure. 

With  this  exception,  German-American  Methodists,  as 
in  several  other  important  enterprises,  were  in  advance  of 
the  rest  of  the  church.  They  founded,  in  1864,  the  Cen- 
tral Wesleyan  Orphan  Asylum,  in  Warrenton,  Mo.,  and 
the  German  Methodist  Orphan  Asylum,  at  Berea,  O.  The 
former  has  fifty- five  on  its  roll,  and  the  latter  one  hun- 
dred and  three.  The  Kelso  Home,  at  Baltimore,  Md.,  was 
founded  by  Thomas  Kelso,  Esq.,  who  originated  the  idea 
and  placed  the  Home  upon  a  foundation  by  the  gift  of 
more  than  $100,000,  $50,000  of  which  were  expended  in 
property ;  it  is  without  debt,  and  its  income  meets  its  ex- 
penses. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Orphanage  in  Philadelphia  was 
organized  on  December  2,  1878,  by  the  wife  of  Bishop 
Simpson,  and  opened  in  January,  1879.  It  has  twenty 
acres  of  ground,  the  gift  of  Colonel  Joseph  Bennett,  who 
has  made  other  large  contributions.  The  value  of  the  prop- 
erty is  about  $250,000,  the  endowment  fund  $100,000. 
It  has  one  hundred  and  five  inmates,  and  receives  destitute 
children  without  regard  to  religious  belief. 

St.  Christopher's  Home  was  organized  and  opened  in  the 
city  of  New  York.  It  now  consists  of  a  spacious  mansion 
and  five  cottages  on  a  tract  of  twelve  acres  at  Dobbs  P^erry, 
N.  Y.  One  of  the  cottages  remains  closed  for  lack  of 
funds.  It  is  supported  by  voluntary  contributions,  and  its 
annual  expenditures  are  about  $18,000.  At  the  last  re- 
port it  had  under  its  care  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine 
boys  and  girls. 

The  only  orphanage  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  under 
the  auspices  of  the  church  was  opened  at  Pruitvale,  Cal., 
January  i,  1892.     It  is  named  the  PVed  P^inch  Orphanage, 


HOMES  AND  ASYLUMS.  677 

and  has  $18,000  worth  of  property,  but  receives  some  aid 
from  the  State.  It  has  a  capacity  for  one  hundred  and 
twenty  children,  and  at  the  last  report  had  ninety-five  and 
was  out  of  debt. 

The  Watts  de  Peyster  Industrial  School  and  Home, 
under  the  management  of  the  New  York  Conference 
branch  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society,  is  situ- 
ated at  Tivoli,  N.  Y.  The  estimated  value  of  its  property, 
which  was  the  gift  of  General  De  Peyster,  is  $60,000.  It 
aims  to  instruct  girls  in  domestic  work  and  to  give  them 
mental  and  moral  training  until  they  are  eighteen  years  of 
age. 

The  Epworth  Children's  Home,  of  Chicago,  was  founded 
in  1893  by  Adelaide  Abbott.  It  accommodates  twenty- 
five,  and  in  the  brief  period  of  its  existence  over  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  children  have  been  turned  away  for  lack 
of  room. 

The  "  Christian  Advocate  "  of  January  27,  1881,  in  an 
editorial  entitled  "  Methodism  and  Charitable  Institutions," 
said :  "  The  time  lias  come  when  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  should  turn  its  attention  to  providing  charitable 
foundations.  It  is  to-day  without  a  hospital,  a  bed  in  a 
hospital,  a  dispensary,  etc.  .  .  .  We  are  far  behind  other 
leading  Protestant  churches  in  respect  to  charitable  insti- 
tutions. .  .  .  Now  that  we  have  supplied  ourselves  with 
schools,  colleges,  theological  seminaries,  missionary,  Church 
Extension,  and  Freedmen's  Aid  societies,  is  it  not  time 
that  somewhere  we  built  an  asylum  or  a  hospital?  " 

It  was  stated  that  St.  Luke's  Protestant  Episcopal 
Hospital  had  treated  eight  hundred  and  eighty-three 
Methodists,  and  the  Presbyterian  Hospital,  during  the 
preceding  year,  thirty-four  of  that  denomination.  The 
closing  sentences  of  the  editorial  were:  "We  have  built 
churches  for  ourselves  and  our  families.     Would  it  not  be 


678  THE   METHOjySTS.  LCiiAi-.  XXV. 

well  for  us  soon  to  build  something  for  all  mankind  ?  Shall 
Romanism  seem  to  be  truer  to  tiie  benevolent  side  of  the 
gospel  than  we  are?"  It  was  hoped  that  these  words 
would  lead  to  the  beginning  in  a  small  way  of  a  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  general  hospital  in  Brooklyn  or  New  York. 
Within  a  few  days  George  I.  Seney,  son  of  the  Rev. 
Robert  Seney,  one  of  the  earliest  Methodist  preachers 
who  received  a  collegiate  education,  said  to  the  editor, 
"  I  approve  the  sentiments  expressed  in  your  paper  as  to 
the  duty  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  give  more 
attention  to  organized  charity,  and  believing  that  the  time 
has  fully  come  for  us,  in  addition  to  building  churches 
and  endowing  educational  institutions,  to  do  our  share  in 
hospital  work,  I  offer  you  as  a  site  sixteen  eligible  lots  in 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  valued  at  $40,000,  and  $100,000  in  cash 
toward  the  establishment  and  erection  of  a  hospital — the 
institution  to  be  a  Methodist  general  hospital,  but  open  to 
Jew  and  Gentile,  Protestant  and  Catholic,  heathen  and  in- 
fidel, on  the  same  terms." 

Before  there  was  time  to  announce  the  offer,  this  philan- 
thropist addressed  a  letter  to  the  editor  as  follows : 

"My  dear  Sir:  I  have  read  with  great  interest  the 
two  pamphlets  you  left  with  me.  You  may  make  my 
subscription  $200,000  instead  of  $100,000. 

"  Very  sincerely  yours, 

"  George  I.  Seney." 

This  amount  was  by  him  increased  to  $410,000  in  prop- 
erty and  money,  and  at  the  same  time  he  was  making 
many  other  gifts  to  benevolent  and  educational  institutions. 
Subsequently  he  met  with  unexpected  financial  embarrass- 
ments, but  after  he  had  recuperated  to  some  extent  he 
exhiljited  his  interest  in  the  h()S])ital  by  further  contribu- 


HOSPITALS.  679 

tions,  and  until  his  death  declared  that  he  had  derived 
more  pleasure  from  those  gifts  than  from  any  others.  This 
institution,  whose  legal  title  is  the  "  Methodist  Episcopal 
Hospital  in  the  City  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,"  was  opened  for 
the  reception  of  patients  December  15,  1887.  The  value 
of  its  property  is  $800,000,  besides  an  accumulated 
endowment  fund  of  more  than  $212,000,  included  in 
which  are  thirty-five  beds  endowed  by  gifts  of  $5000  for 
each.  No  distinction  of  race  or  religion  is  allowed,  and 
more  than  ten  thousand  patients  have  been  treated. 
Admissions  turn  upon  these  questions  :  Is  the  case  suitable 
for  a  general  hospital,  and  is  there  room  ?  When  the 
buildings  are  completed  it  is  expected  there  will  be 
accommodations  for  two  hundred  and  fifty. 

About  four  months  after  Mr.  Seney  made  his  gift, 
Scott  Stewart,  M.D.,  of  Philadelphia,  died,  bequeathing 
his  residuary  estate  for  the  establishment  of  a  Methodist 
hospital  iu  that  city.  It  was  incorporated  February  14, 
1885,  and  opened  April  21,  1892.  It  has  six  buildings  in 
use,  and  its  property,  including  endowments,  represents 
$570,000. 

The  hospital  in  Portland,  Ore.,  was  incorporated  in 
1887,  and  has  assets  amounting  to  about  $100,000. 

The  Elizabeth  Gamble  Deaconess  Home  and  Christ's 
Hospital,  the  gift  of  the  Gamble  family,  was  opened  in 
Cincinnati  in  1888;  five  years  later  it  was  removed  to 
Mount  Auburn,  a  suburb,  and  now  has  property  valued  at 
$100,000.      Only  deaconesses  are  employed  as  nurses. 

Wesley  Hospital,  in  Chicago,  111.,  the  work  of  which  is 
largely  surgical,  is  seven  years  old,  and,  like  the  Brooklyn 
and  Philadelphia  hospitals,  it  maintains  a  training-school 
for  nurses. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Hospital  at  Omaha,  Neb.,  was 
organized  May  28,  1891,  in  connection  with  the  Deaconess 


68o  THE   METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxv. 

Home,  and  contains  thirty  beds.  It  is  prosperous,  but  has 
not  yet  accumulated  endowments  or  any  considerable 
property. 

The  Asbury  Methodist  Hospital  and  Rebecca  Deaconess 
Home,  of  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  was  opened  September  i, 
1892.  It  occupies  a  large  brick  building  valued  at  $35,000, 
and  has  a  capacity  of  fifty-three  beds.  During  the  last  two 
years  it  has  treated  82 1  hospital  cases,  and  392 1  patients  in 
the  free  dispensary  under  the  charge  of  deaconesses,  besides 
answering  a  large  number  of  ambulance  calls;  it  publishes 
a  quarterly  called  the  "  Hospital  and   Home  Messenger." 

The  Kansas  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  sustains  Bethany  Hospital,  in  Kansas  City,  Kan. 
It  was  opened  in  May,  1892,  in  a  rented  building,  but  now 
has  a  property  valued  at  $11,000.  It  issues  the 
"  Bethany  Visitor,"  a  monthly,  is  the  only  Protestant  hos- 
pital in  Kansas,  and  treated  three  hundred  patients  during 
the  past  year. 

The  Deaconess  Home  and  Hospital  of  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
began  its  work  September  7,  1892.  It  has  but  sixteen 
beds,  and  during  1895  treated  seventy-five  patients,  of 
whom  thirty-one  paid  nothing  or  an  insignificant  amount. 

The  Sibley  Memorial  Hospital,  Washington,  D.  C, 
erected  by  a  gift  from  W.  J.  Sibley,  will  accommodate 
twenty  patients.  It  was  opened  March  25,  1895,  and  is 
connected  with  the  National  Training-school  for  Mission- 
aries and  the  Deaconess  Home  ;  all  are  under  the  direction 
of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society. 

The  New  England  Deaconess  Hospital,  under  the  di- 
rection of  the  New  England  Deaconess  Home  and  Train- 
ing-school, was  declared,  on  January  i,  1896,  ready  to 
receive   patients.      Immediately   adjoining  the   home  ^   a 

1  For  additional   particulars  concerning  hospitals  and  other  enterprises, 
see  "  Methodist  Year-book,"  1896. 


HOSPITALS.  68 1 

house  of  seventeen  rooms,  on  Massachusetts  Avenue,  has 
been  purchased  and  thoroughly  fitted  for  hospital  pur- 
poses. 

This  philanthropic  movement  is  destined  to  spread  until 
every  large  city  in  the  Union  will  contain  such  a  hospital, 
and  it  will  be  recognized  that,  though  Methodists  entered 
upon  this  phase  of  beneficent  activity  later  than  most 
other  religious  bodies,  their  zeal  and  liberality  have  been 
stimulated  by  that  fact. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

ACHIEVEMENTS    AND    OUTLOOK. 

The  early  history  of  American  Methodism  is  a  record 
of  toil,  hardship,  self-denial,  frugality,  and  intense  devo- 
tion ;  abstinence  was  required  from  all  forms  of  dissipa- 
tion, from  every  amusement  of  an  evil  or  absorbing  nature, 
and  from  worldly  display.  Systematic  giving  was  the 
rule,  and  all  the  pecuniary  resources  of  the  church  were 
utilized.  The  conversion  of  souls  was  the  principal  object. 
Special  attention  was  given  to  the  poor  and  to  children 
and  youth,  and  total  abstinence  from  intoxicating  liquors 
was  enforced,  until  no  body  of  Christians,  except  the 
Society  of  Friends,  was  so  universally  temperate  and  so 
generally  abstinent. 

The  divisions  in  Methodism  arose  from  causes  which  in 
all  ages  have  produced  ecclesiastical  controversy,  and 
which,  with  the  decline  of  genuine  unity  and  individual 
devotion,  lead  to  rupture  when  not  suppressed  by  force, 
or  to  external  decay  unless  the  church  is  sustained  by  the 
state,  and  to  infidelity  and  immorality  in  large  degree 
where  the  outward  forms  of  religion  are  maintained  by 
endowments  or  taxation  ;  namely,  differences  of  judgment 
concerning  discipline,  ceremony,  and  doctrine,  and,  more 
potent  than  all,  the  personal  ambitions  of  men  who  when 
disappointed  become  imbittered,  or  when  successful  grow 
insupportable  by  reason  of  the  spirit  of  tyranny  engendered. 

683 


INTEKDEXOMINA  TIOXAL    RECIPROCITY.  683 

All  these  causes,  except  radical  divergencies  of  doctrine, 
can  be  traced  in  the  development  of  American  Methodism. 

Yet  it  has  nearly  five  millions  of  communicants  in  the 
United  States  alone,  the  vast  majority  of  whom  have  been 
received  by  conversion.  The  influence  which  has  led 
so  great  a  multitude  to  affiliate  with  Methodism  is  the 
power  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  Christianity  as 
taught  and  preached  by  it,  the  attractiveness  of  its  ser- 
vices, and  the  hand-to-hand  conflicts  waged  by  pastors 
and  people  against  the  powers  of  darkness. 

By  its  stimulus  and  example  it  has  powerfully  affected 
other  religious  bodies,  with  resulting  modifications  in  their 
spirit  and  methods  in  preaching,  singing,  exhortation,  lay 
cooperation,  and  revivals.  By  the  number  of  attendants  at 
other  churches  who  were  converted  among  Methodists  and 
returned  to  their  former  associations  carrying  this  spirit, 
and  by  the  countless  revivals  kindled  by  their  zeal  which 
have  spread  through  entire  communities,  much  has  been 
contributed  to  the  vitality,  and  consequently  to  the  per- 
manent growth,  of  other  religious  denominations.  Minis- 
ters who  have  changed  their  views  and  entered  other 
Christian  churches,  carrying  with  them  the  peculiar  zeal 
and  working  plans  of  Methodism,  have  contributed  a  simi- 
lar influence,  which  a  large  proportion  of  those  who  have 
been  the  subjects  of  it  have  gladly  acknowledged. 

It  is  proper  that  Methodism  should  render  such  contri- 
butions, since  it  owes  so  much  of  spiritual  impulse  to  the 
Moravians,  derived  its  liturgy  from  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, was  trained  in  analysis  and  argumentation  in  the  con- 
flicts made  necessary  by  the  stalwart  resistance  of  the 
Calvinistic  bodies  to  what  they  supposed  to  be  its  danger- 
ous departures  from  sound  doctrine,  and  after  invading 
New  England  was  liberalized  by  the  democratic  spirit  of 
its  Congregational  form  of  government,  and  prevented  by 


684  "^^^  METHODISTS.  [Chap.  xxvi. 

the  intellectual  vigor  and  ceaseless  activity  of  the  Ameri- 
can Baptists  from  placing  too  strong  a  reliance  upon  a 
sacramentarian  view  of  the  baptism  of  infants. 

As  Methodism  has  grown  in  wealth,  and  its  educational 
enterprises  have  modified  the  views  and  refined  the  tastes 
and  manners  of  its  people,  immigration  from  other  reli- 
gious denominations  through  marriage  has  increased ;  and 
the  growth  of  the  spirit  of  Christian  unity  has  operated  in 
the  same  direction,  until  within  the  past  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury the  separating  walls  of  denominations  have  become 
less  and  less  palpable. 

Prophecy  is  beyond  the  sphere  of  the  historian,  but  his 
domain  extends  to  the  utmost  margin  of  the  present. 

Whether  there  are  marked  tendencies  to  organic  union 
of  the  different  branches  of  Methodism  is  a  question  diffi- 
cult to  determine.  Addresses,  however  fervent,  upon 
complimentary  occasions  indicate  little;  often,  indeed, 
they  are  followed  by  reaction.  Gladstone,  whose  all-in- 
clusive genius  irradiates  if  it  does  not  illuminate  every 
subject,  has  recently  said : 

"  Religious  controversies  do  not,  like  bodily  wounds, 
heal  by  the  genial  force  of  nature.  If  they  do  not  pro- 
ceed to  gangrene  and  to  mortification,  at  least  they  tend 
to  harden  into  fixed  facts,  to  incorporate  themselves  with 
law,  character,  and  tradition,  nay,  even  with  language ;  so 
that  at  last  they  take  rank  among  the  data  and  presuppo- 
sitions of  common  life,  and  are  thought  as  inexpugnable 
as  the  rocks  of  an  iron-bound  coast.  A  poet  of  ours  de- 
scribes the  sharp  and  total  severance  of  two  early  friends  : 

'  They  parted,  ne'er  to  meet  again. 
But  never  either  found  another 
To  free  the  hollow  heart  from  paining. 
They  stood  aloof,  the  scars  remaining. 
Like  cliffs  which  had  been  rent  asunder; 
A  dreary  sea  now  rolls  between.'  " 


THE  PAST  AND    THE   PRESEiXT.  685 

Certainly  among  American  Methodists  the  scars  grow 
less  and  less  visible,  the  tides  now  frequently  cover  the 
cliffs.  The  spirit  of  fraternity  is  generally  manifest ;  bro- 
therly kindness  is  of  near  kin  to  unity,  and  organic  union 
may  be  safely  left  to  the  further  evolution  of  experience. 

The  deeper  question  is.  Has  Methodism  lost  to  a  dan- 
gerous degree  its  original  vital  impulse?  No  attention 
need  be  paid  to  ecclesiastical  pessimists  who  allege  that 
every  departure  from  the  past  shows  a  tendency  in  the 
wrong  direction.  Methodism  as  represented  by  many  of 
its  early  converts  had  defects  of  theory  and  practice  which 
denominational  pride  or  amiability  has  often  covered  with 
the  veil  of  charity  or  forgetfulness ;  but  as  the  Master  re- 
buked the  disciples  for  not  discerning  the  signs  of  the 
times,  there  is  always  a  place  for  self-examination  of  the 
individual  and  devout  consideration  of  the  state  of  the 
church.  The  history  of  Christianity  shows  that  the  time 
when  such  heart-searchings  should  be  made  is  when  the 
distinction  between  the  world  and  the  church  is  faintly 
marked,  and  transitions  are  so  easy  and  frequent  as  not  to 
attract  attention,  and  when  luxury  waits  upon  liberality. 

The  founders  of  Methodism  had  no  enterprises  that  were 
not  distinctly  subordinate  to  the  conversion  of  men  and 
their  spiritual  training.  Now  its  enterprises  are  many 
and  complex,  often  pervaded  by  a  distinctly  secular  ele- 
ment, which  contends  constantly  with  the  spiritual.  Yet 
the  flames  of  pure  devotion  burn  upon  many  an  altar, 
accessions  by  conversion  are  numerous,  many  preachers 
deliver  truth  in  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  every 
society  contains  those  who  cry  continually,  "  Wilt  Thou 
not  revive  us  again,  that  Thy  people  may  rejoice  in  Thee  ?  " 

All  these  institutions  can  be  rendered  tributary  to  the 
great  work  for  which  Methodism  was  established.  If  the 
seminaries,  colleges,  and  universities  retain  the  spirit  of 


686  THE  MErironisTS.  [Chaf.  xxvi. 

evangelical  piety  and  the  peculiar  fervor  of  Methodism  ;  if 
the  Book  Concerns  give  to  spiritual  religion  and  sound 
doctrine  the  chief  place  in  their  publications;  if  the  mis- 
sionary societies  shall  more  and  more  base  the  duty  and 
privilege  of  giving  not  upon  influences  that  appeal  to  pride 
or  personal  ambition,  but  upon  the  needs  of  the  world  and 
the  allegiance  of  the  church  to  Christ ;  if  the  Society  for 
Church  Extension  shall  seek  to  promote  not  extravagant 
architecture,  but  the  most  hygienic,  commodious,  and  at- 
tractive churches ;  if  all  analogous  organizations  shall  re- 
member that  to  make  men  wise  for  this  world  only  is  to 
do  them  irreparable  damage  ;  and  if  the  Sunday-schools 
and  Epworth  League  shall  train  young  people  to  pray, 
to  exhort,  to  spread  the  news  of  salvation  wherever  they 
go,  these  enterprises  will  all  promote  the  original  purposes 
of  Methodism,  as  Wesley's  zeal  was  not  diminished  by  his 
philanthropy,  or  by  his  interest  in  the  dissemination  of 
learning. 

Eight  years  before  the  death  of  that  man  of  both 
worlds,  burning  with  zeal  for  God  and  humanit}^  having 
seen  the  scattered  Methodists  of  the  United  States  or- 
ganized by  his  direction  into  an  episcopal  church,  he  wrote 
in  London  a  brief  essay  entitled  "  Thoughts  on  Metho- 
dism." The  solemn  words  of  his  opening  paragraph  may 
fitly  close  this  record  of  the  intervening  period : 

"  I  am  not  afraid  that  the  people  called  Methodists 
should  ever  cease  to  exist  either  in  Europe  or  America ; 
but  I  am  afraid  lest  they  should  only  exist  as  a  dead  sect, 
having  the  form  of  religion  without  the  power;  and  this 
undoubtedly  will  be  the  case  unless  they  hold  fast  the 
doctrine,  spirit,  and  discipline  with  which  they  first  set 
out." 


APPENDICES. 


APPENDIX    I.' 

GENERAL  RULES    OF   THE    UNITED    SOCIETIES. 
[As  originally  prepared  by  the  signers.] 

1.  In  the  latter  end  of  the  year  1739,  eight  or  ten  per- 
sons came  to  me  in  London,  who  appeared  to  be  deeply- 
convinced  of  sin  and  earnestly  groaning  for  redemption. 
They  desired  (as  did  two  or  three  more  the  next  day)  that 
I  would  spend  some  time  with  them  in  prayer,  and  advise 
them  how  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,  which  they  saw 
continually  hanging  over  their  heads.  That  we  might 
have  more  time  for  this  great  work,  I  appointed  a  day 
when  they  might  all  come  together,  which  from  thence- 
forward they  did  every  week,  namely,  on  Thursday,  in 
the  evening.  To  these,  and  as  many  more  as  desired  to 
join  with  them  (for  their  number  increased  daily),  I  gave 
those  advices,  from  time  to  time,  which  I  judged  most 
needful  for  them ;  and  we  always  concluded  our  meeting 
with  prayer  suited  to  their  several  necessities. 

2.  This  was  the  rise  of  the  United  Society,  first  in 
London,  and  then  in  other  places.     Such  a  society  is  no 

1  See  p.  91. 
687 


688  APPENDICES. 

Other  than  "  a  company  of  men  having  the  form  and  seek- 
ing the  power  of  godliness,  united  in  order  to  pray  to- 
gether, to  receive  the  word  of  exhortation,  and  to  watch 
over  one  another  in  love,  that  they  may  help  each  other  to 
work  out  their  salvation." 

3.  That  it  may  the  more  easily  be  discerned  whether 
they  are  indeed  working  out  their  own  salvation,  each  soci- 
ety is  divided  into  smaller  companies,  called  classes,  accord- 
ing to  their  respective  places  of  abode.  There  are  about 
twelve  persons  in  every  class,  one  of  whom  is  styled  the 
leader.  It  is  his  business  (i)  To  see  each  person  in  his 
class  once  a  week  at  least,  in  order  to  inquire  how  their 
souls  prosper;  to  advise,  reprove,  comfort,  or  exhort,  as 
occasion  may  require ;  to  receive  what  they  are  willing  to 
give  toward  the  relief  of  the  poor.  (2)  To  meet  the  min- 
ister and  stewards  of  the  society  once  a  week,  in  order  to 
inform  the  minister  of  any  that  are  sick,  or  of  any  that 
walk  disorderly  and  will  not  be  reproved ;  to  pay  to  the 
stewards  what  they  have  received  of  their  several  classes 
in  the  week  preceding;  and  to  show  their  account  of  what 
each  person  has  contributed. 

4.  There  is  only  one  condition  previously  required  in 
those  who  desire  admission  into  these  societies — a  desire 
"  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,  to  be  saved  from  their 
sins  "  :  but  wherever  this  is  really  fixed  in  the  soul  it  will 
be  shown  by  its  fruits.  It  is  therefore  expected  of  all  who 
continue  therein  that  they  should  continue  to  evidence 
their  desire  of  salvation  : 

First,  by  doing  no  harm,  by  avoiding  evil  in  every 
kind  ;  especially  that  which  is  most  generally  practiced : 
such  is  the  taking  the  name  of  God  in  vain ;  the  profan- 
ing the  day  of  the  Lord,  either  by  doing  ordinary  work 
thereon,  or  by  buying  or  selling ;  drunkenness,  buying  or 
selling  spirituous  liquors,  or  drinking  them,  unless  in  cases 


APPENDICES.  689 

of  extreme  necessity ;  fighting,  quarreling,  brawling ; 
brother  going  to  law  with  brother;  returning  evil  for  evil, 
or  railing  for  railing;  the  using  many  words  in  buying  or 
selling;  the  buying  or  selling  uncustomed  goods;  the  giv- 
ing or  taking  things  on  usury,  that  is,  unlawful  interest; 
uncharitable  or  unprofitable  conversation,  particularly 
speaking  evil  of  magistrates  or  of  ministers ;  doing  to 
others  as  we  would  not  they  should  do  unto  us ;  doing 
what  we  know  is  not  for  the  glory  of  God,  as  the  "  put- 
ting on  of  gold  or  costly  apparel,"  the  taking  such  diver- 
sions as  cannot  be  used  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  the 
singing  those  songs,  or  reading  those  books,  which  do  not 
tend  to  the  knowledge  or  love  of  God ;  softness  and  need- 
less self-indulgence;  laying  up  treasures  upon  earth; 
borrowing  without  a  probability  of  paying;  or  taking  up 
goods  without  a  probability  of  paying  for  them. 

5.  It  is  expected  of  all  who  continue  in  these  societies 
that  they  should  continue  to  evidence  their  desire  of  sal- 
vation : 

Secondly,  by  doing  good,  by  being  in  every  kind  mer- 
ciful after  their  power;  as  they  have  opportunity,  doing 
good  of  every  possible  sort,  and  as  far  as  is  possible  to  all 
men  :  to  their  bodies,  of  the  ability  which  God  giveth,  by 
giving  food  to  the  hungry,  by  clothing  the  naked,  by  visit- 
ing or  helping  them  that  are  sick  or  in  prison ;  to  their 
souls  by  instructing,  reproving,  or  exhorting  all  that  they 
have  any  intercourse  with;  trampling  under  foot  that  en- 
thusiastic doctrine  of  devils,  that  "  we  are  not  to  do  good 
unless  our  heart  be  free  to  it";  by  doing  good  especially 
to  them  that  are  of  the  household  of  faith,  or  groaning  so 
to  be  ;  employing  them  preferably  to  others  ;  buying  one 
of  another ;  helping  each  ^other  in  business,  and  so  much 
the  more  because  the  world  will  love  its  own,  and  them 
only ;    by  all   possible  diligence  and  frugality,    that   the 


690  APPENDICES. 

gospel  be  not  blamed;  by  running  with  patience  the  race 
that  is  set  before  them,  "  denying  themselves,  and  taking 
up  their  cross  daily  ;  "  submitting  to  bear  the  reproach  of 
Christ,  to  be  as  the  filth  and  ofTscouring  of  the  world  ;  and 
looking  that  men  should  "  say  all  manner  of  e\il  of  them 
falsely  for  the  Lord's  sake/' 

6.  It  is  expected  of  all  who  desire  to  continue  in  these 
societies  that  they  should  continue  to  evidence  their  desire 
of  salvation : 

Thirdly,  by  attending  upon  all  the  ordinances  of  God. 
Such  are  the  public  worship  of  God  ;  the  ministry  of  the 
Word,  either  read  or  expounded  ;  the  Supper  of  the  Lord  ; 
family  and  private  prayer;  searching  the  Scriptures;  and 
fasting,  or  abstinence. 

7.  These  are  the  general  rules  of  our  societies  ;  all  which 
we  are  taught  of  God  to  observe,  even  in  his  written 
word,  the  only  rule  and  the  sufficient  rule  both  of  our 
faith  and  practice.  And  all  these,  we  know,  his  Spirit 
writes  on  every  truly  awakened  heart.  If  there  be  any 
among  us  who  observe  them  not,  who  habitually  break 
any  of  them,  let  it  be  made  known  unto  them  who  watch 
over  that  soul  as  they  that  must  give  an  account.  We 
will  admonish  him  of  the  error  of  his  ways ;  we  will  bear 
with  him  for  a  season  ;  but  then  if  he  repent  not  he  hath 
no  more  place  among  us.  We  have  delivered  our  own 
souls. 

John  Wesley, 
May  I,  1743.  Charles  Wesley. 


APPENDIX    II.' 

REPORT  OF  THE   COMMTITEE   RELATIVE   TO   THE  REGU- 
LATING  AND    PERPETUATING    GENERAL   CON- 
FERENCES IN  THE  GENERAL  CONFER- 
ENCE   OF    1808. 
[As  printed  in  the  "Journal."] 

1.  The  General  Conference  shall  be  composed  of  dele- 
gates from  the  Annual  Conferences. 

2.  The  delegates  shall  be  chosen  by  ballot,  without  de- 
bate, in  the  Annual  Conferences  respectively,  in  the  last 
meeting  of  conference  previous  to  the  meeting  of  the 
General  Conference. 

3.  Each  Annual  Conference  respectively  shall  have  a 
right  to  send  seven  elders,  members  of  their  conference, 
as  delegates  to  the  General  Conference. 

4.  Each  Annual  Conference  shall  have  a  right  to  send 
one  delegate,  in  addition  to  the  seven,  for  every  ten  mem- 
bers belonging  to  such  conference  over  and  above  fifty. 
So  that  if  there  be  sixty  members  they  shall  send  eight ;  if 
seventy  they  shall  send  nine;  and  so  on  in  proportion. 

5.  The  General  Conference  shall  meet  on  the  first  day 
of  May,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  eighteen  hundred  and 
twelve ;  and  thenceforward  on  the  first  day  of  May  once 
in  four  years  perpetually,  at  such  place  or  places  as  shall 
be  fixed  on  by  the  General  Conference  from  time  to  time. 

6.  At  all  times,  when  the  General  Conference  is  met,  it 

1  See  p.  331. 
691 


692  APPEXDICES. 

shall  take  two  thirds  of  the  whole  number  of  delegates  to 
form  a  quorum. 

7.  One  of  the  original  superintendents  shall  preside  in 
the  General  Conference  ;  but  in  case  no  general  superin- 
tendent be  present,  the  General  Conference  shall  choose  a 
president  pro  ton. 

8.  The  General  Conference  shall  have  full  powers  to 
make  rules,  regulations,  and  canons  for  our  church,  under 
the  following  limitations  and  restrictions,  viz. :  — 

The  General  Conference  shall  not  revoke,  alter,  or  change 
our  Articles  of  Religion,  nor  establish  any  new  standards 
of  doctrine. 

They  shall  not  lessen  the  number  of  seven  delegates 
from  each  Annual  Conference,  nor  allow  of  a  greater  num- 
ber from  any  Annual  Conference  than  is  provided  in  the 
fourth  paragraph  of  this  section. 

They  shall  not  change  or  alter  any  part  or  rule  of  our 
government,  so  as  to  do  away  episcopacy,  or  to  destroy 
the  plan  of  our  itinerant  general  superintendency. 

They  shall  not  revoke  or  change  the  general  rules  of  our 
united  societies. 

They  shall  not  do  away  the  privileges  of  our  ministers 
or  preachers  of  trial  by  a  committee,  and  of  an  appeal ; 
neither  shall  they  do  away  the  privileges  of  our  members 
of  trial  before  the  society  or  by  a  committee,  of  an  appeal. 

They  shall  not  appropriate  the  produce  of  the  Rook 
Concern  or  of  the  Charter  Fund  to  any  purpose  other  tlian 
for  the  benefit  of  the  traveling,  superannuated,  super- 
numerary, and  worn-out  preachers,  their  wives,  widows, 
and  children. 

Provided,  nevertheless,  that  upon  the  joint  recommen- 
dation of  all  the  Annual  Conferences,  then  a  majority  of 
two  thirds  of  the  General  Conference  succeeding  shall 
suffice  to  alter  any  of  the  above  restrictions. 


APPENDIX   III.i 

REPORT    OF   THE    "COMMITTEE    OF    NINE." 
[On  plan  for  "  mutual  and  friendly  division  of  the  church."] 

Whereas,  A  declaration  has  been  presented  to  this 
General  Conference,  with  the  signatures  oi  fifty -one  dele- 
gates of  the  body,  from  thirteen  Annual  Conferences  in 
the  slave-holding  States,  representing  that,  for  various 
reasons  enumerated,  the  object  and  purposes  of  the  Chris- 
tian ministry  and  church  organization  cannot  be  success- 
fully accomplished  by  them  under  the  jurisdiction  of  this 
General  Conference  as  now  constituted ;  and, 

Whereas,  In  the  event  of  a  separation,  a  contingency 
to  which  the  declaration  asks  attention  as  not  improbable, 
we  esteem  it  the  duty  of  this  General  Conference  to  meet 
the  emergency  with  Christian  kindness  and  the  strictest 
equity ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  by  the  delegates  of  the  several  Annual  Con- 
ferences in  General  Conference  assembled, 

I.  That,  should  the  delegates  from  the  Conferences  in 
the  slave-holding  States  find  it  necessary  to  unite  in  a  dis- 
tinct ecclesiastical  connection,  the  following  rule  shall  be 
observed  with  regard  to  the  northern  boundary  of  such 
connection: — All  the  societies,  stations,  and  Conferences 
adhering  to   the  Church  in  the.  South,  by  a  vote  of  the 

1  See  p.  448. 
693 


694  APPENDICES. 

majority  of  the  members  of  said  societies,  stations,  and 
Conferences,  shall  remain  under  the  unmolested  pastoral 
care  of  the  Southern  Church ;  and  the  ministers  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  shall  in  no  wise  attempt  to 
organize  churches  or  societies  within  the  limits  of  the 
Church  South,  nor  shall  they  attempt  to  exercise  any  pas- 
toral oversight  therein;  it  being  understood  that  the  min- 
istry of  the  South  reciprocally  observe  the  same  rule  in 
relations  to  stations,  societies,  and  Conferences  adhering, 
by  vote  of  a  majority,  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church ; 
Provided  also  that  this  rule  shall  apply  only  to  societies, 
stations,  and  Conferences  bordering  on  the  line  of  division, 
and  not  to  interior  charges,  which  shall  in  all  cases  be  left 
to  the  care  of  that  church  within  whose  territory  they  are 
situated. 

2.  That  ministers,  local  and  traveling,  of  every  grade 
and  office  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  may,  as 
they  prefer,  remain  in  that  church,  or  without  blame  at- 
tach themselves  to  the  Church  South. 

3.  Resolved,  by  the  delegates  of  all  the  Annual  Con- 
ferences in  General  Conference  assembled,  That  we  rec- 
ommend to  all  the  Annual  Conferences,  at  their  first 
approaching  sessions,  to  authorize  a  change  of  the  Sixth 
Restrictive  Article,  so  that  the  first  clause  shall  read  thus : 
"They  shall  not  appropriate  tlie  produce  of  the  Book 
Concern  nor  of  the  Chartered  Fund  to  any  purpose  other 
than  for  the  benefit  of  the  traveling,  supernumerary,  su- 
perannuated, and  worn-out  preachers,  their  wives,  widows, 
and  children,  and  to  such  other  purposes  as  may  be  de- 
termined upon  by  the  votes  of  two  thirds  of  the  members 
of  the  General  Conference." 

4.  That  whenever  the  Annual  Conferences,  by  a  vote 
of  three  fourths  of  all  their  members,  voting  on  the  third 


APPENDICES.  695 

resolution,  shall  have  concurred  in  the  recommendation  to 
alter  the  Sixth  Restrictive  Article,  the  Agents  at  New 
York  and  Cincinnati  shall,  and  they  are  hereby  authorized 
and  directed  to  deliver  over  to  any  authorized  agent  or 
appointee  of  the  Church  South,  should  one  be  authorized, 
all  notes  and  book  accounts  against  the  ministers,  church- 
members,  or  citizens  within  its  boundaries,  with  authority 
to  collect  the  same  for  the  sole  use  of  the  Southern  Church  ; 
and  that  said  Agents  also  convey  to  the  aforesaid  agent  or 
appointee  of  the  South  all  the  real  estate,  and  assign  to 
him  all  the  property,  including  presses,  stock,  and  all 
right  and  interests  connected  with  the  printing  establish- 
ments at  Charleston,  Richmond,  and  Nashville,  which  now 
belong  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

5.  That  when  the  Annual  Conferences  shall  have  ap- 
proved the  aforesaid  change  in  the  Sixth  Restrictive 
Article,  there  shall  be  transferred  to  the  above  agent  of 
the  Southern  Church  so  much  of  the  capital  and  produce 
of  the  Methodist  Book  Concern  as  will,  with  the  notes, 
book  accounts,  presses,  etc.,  mentioned  in  the  last  resolu- 
tion, bear  the  same  proportion  to  the  whole  property  of 
said  Concern  that  the  traveling  preachers  in  the  Southern 
Church  shall  bear  to  all  the  traveling  ministers  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church;  the  division  to  be  made  on 
the  basis  of  the  number  of  traveling  preachers  in  the  forth- 
coming Minutes. 

6.  That  the  above  transfer  shall  be  in  the  form  of  an- 
nual payments  of  $25,000  per  annum,  and  specifically  in 
stock  of  the  Book  Concern  and  in  Southern  notes  and  ac- 
counts due  the  establishment,  and  accruing  after  the  first 
transfer  mentioned  abo\'e ;  and  until  the  payments  are 
made  the  Southern  Church  shall  share  in  all  the  net  profits 
of  the  Book  Concern  in  the  proportion  that  the  amount 


696 


APPENDICES. 


due  them,  or  in  arrears,  bears  to  all  the  property  of  the 
Concern. 

7.  That  Nathan  Bangs,  George  Peck,  and  James  B.  Fin- 
ley  be,  and  they  are  hereby,  appointed  commissioners  to 
act  in  concert  with  the  same  number  of  commissioners 
appointed  by  the  Southern  organization  (should  one  be 
formed),  to  estimate  the  amount  which  will  fall  due  to  the 
South  by  the  preceding  rule,  and  to  have  full  power  to 
carry  into  effect  the  whole  arrangement  proposed  with 
regard  to  the  division  of  property,  should  the  separation 
take  place.  And  if  by  any  means  a  vacancy  occurs  in 
this  board  of  commissioners  the  Book  Committee  at  New 
York  shall  fill  that  vacancy. 

8.  That  whenever  any  agents  of  the  Southern  Church 
are  clothed  with  legal  authority  or  corporate  power  to  act 
in  the  premises,  the  Agents  at  New  York  are  hereby  au- 
thorized and  directed  to  act  in  concert  with  said  Southern 
agents,  so  as  to  give  the  provisions  of  these  resolutions  a 
legally  binding  force. 

9.  That  all  the  property  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  meeting-houses,  parsonages,  colleges,  schools. 
Conference  funds,  cemeteries,  and  of  every  kind  within  the 
limits  of  the  Southern  organization,  shall  be  fore\er  free 
from  any  claim  set  up  on  the  part  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  so  far  as  this  resolution  can  be  of  force  in 
the  premises. 

10.  That  the  church  so  formed  in  the  South  shall  have 
a  common  property  in  all  the  copyrights  in  possession  of 
the  Book  Concerns  in  New  York  and  Cincinnati  at  the  time 
of  the  settlement  by  the  commissioners. 

1 1.  That  the  Book- Agents  at  New  York  be  directed  to 
make  such  compensation  to  the  Conferences  South  for  their 
dividend  from  the  Chartered  Fund  as  the  commissioners 
to  be  provided  for  shall  agree  upon.^ 


APPENDICES.  697 

12.  That  the  bishops  be  respectfully  requested  that  that 
part  of  this  report  requiring  the  action  of  the  Annual  Con- 
ferences be  laid  before  them  as  soon  as  possible,  beginning" 
with  the  New  York  Conference. 

The  names  of  the  committee  were  :  Robert  Paine,  chair- 
man, Glexen  Filmore,  Peter  Akers,  Nathan  Bangs,  Thomas 
Crowder,  Thomas  B.  Sargent,  William  Winans,  Leonidas 
L.  Hamline,  James  Porter. 


698 


APPENDICES. 


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INDEX 


Abbott,  Adelaide,  677. 

Abbott,  Benjamin,  204-209. 

Abob'tion  papers,  387. 

AboHtionism,  378,  386,  388,  465,  472. 

Act,  Five  Mile,  34. 

Act  for  the  Better  Security  of  Negro 
Slaves,  405. 

Act  of  Prcemunire,  4. 

Act  of  Uniformity,  21. 

Acton,  John  H.,  547. 

Address,  of  Wesley  to  Coke,  231, 
232  ;  to  George  Washington,  265  ; 
of  General  Bryan,  270. 

Adrian  College,  604,  606,  611. 

African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
organized,  347;  union  suggested, 
525  ;  ministerial  qualifications,  583  ; 
course  of  study,  583,  584  ;  Mission- 
ary Society,  584;  the  church  in 
Canada,  584,  586  ;  Wilber  force  Uni- 
versity, 585  ;  Discipline,  586  ;  edu- 
cational and  missionary  work,  587  ; 
statistics,  588. 

African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Church,  312,  348,  525;  early  his- 
tory, 588  ;  controversy  and  division, 
589 ;  union,  590 ;  lay  representa- 
tion, 590 ;  women  made  eligible, 
5qo  •  official  press,  592  ;  education, 
593 ;  rule  on  slavery,  594 ;  mis- 
sion work  and  statistics,  595. 
"African   Methodist    Episcopal   Zion 

Quarterly,"  592. 
Africaji   Union   Methodist   Protestant 

Church,  596. 
Akers,  Peter,  376,  443, 


Albert,  Aristides  E.  P.,  569. 
Albion  College,  666,  698. 
Allegheny  College,  375,  665,  698. 
Allen,  Richard,  309,  310,  347,  582. 
American  Colonization  Society,  384. 
American  University,  669-671. 
"  American  Wesleyan  Observer,"  387. 
Ames,   Edward    R.,    376,    456,   492, 

493.  509.  510.  531.  548,  670. 
Amusements,  rule  regarding,  536. 
Andrew,    James    Osgood,    372,   412- 
414,  419,  421,  425,  426,  429-431, 
.    436,  441,  445,  446,  448,  454.  456- 
462,  467,  469,  471,  473,  619,  623, 
631,  636. 
Andrews,  Edward  G.,  538,  669. 
Anglo-Chinese  College,  656. 
Anglo-Japanese  College,  656. 
Anne,  Queen,  24. 
Annesley,  Samuel,  42. 
Annesley,  Susannah,  41. 
Armstrong,  J.  H.,  588. 
Arnett,  Benjamin  W.,  586. 
Arnold,  ].  M.,  660. 
Arthur,  William,  553,  570- 
Articles  of  Religion,  247,  301,  334. 
Asbury,  Francis,  early   history,  126; 
work    in    America,    127-135,    ib8, 
171;    during  the   Revolution,  172, 
175-181;   settling  difficulties,   186, 
187,  224;   General  Assistant,    181, 
191,  198-200;  meeting  Coke,  239; 
ordained,   241  ;     travels,    252,   257, 
258;     "Council,"    264;-  O'Kelly, 
282,     284;     encountering    opposi- 
tion,   286;     feebleness,    293-295; 


701 


702 


IXDEX. 


General  Conference  of  1804,  301, 
302  ;  time  limit,  305  ;  colored  Meth- 
odists, 309,  310;  General  Confer- 
ence of  1808,  316;  of  1812,  339; 
last  days  and  death,  344,  345  ;  ad- 
dress to  the  General  Conference, 
348;  his  body  reinterred,  353,  491. 

Asbury  College,  354. 

Asbury  Methodist  Hospital,  680. 

Associate   Methodist  reformers,  367. 

Augusta  College,  362. 

Axley,  James,  340,  351. 

Ayres,  Daniel,  663. 

Baboo  Ram  Chandra  Bose,  549. 

Badger,  Barber,  362. 

Baird,  I.  N.,  496. 

Baker,  James  J.,  124. 

Baker,  Osmon  C,  481,  492,  493,  528. 

Baldwin  University,  489,  698. 

Baltimore  Conference,  divided,  506, 
508. 

Bancroft,  George,  163,  670. 

Band  meetings,  85. 

Bangs,  Nathan,  299,  308,  312,  354, 
357.  361,  374,  379,  392,  419,  441, 
443,  451,  455,  489,  500- 

Bannister,  Henry,  528. 

Bareilly  Theological  Seminary,  656. 

Barnes,  Robert  A.,  645. 

Barrett,  Judge,  178. 

Barrett's  Chapel,  185. 

Barris,  J.  H.,  390. 

Bascom,  Henry  B.,  363,  445,  462, 
488,  618-620. 

Bashford,  Jane  Field,  575. 

Bashford,  J.  \V.,  664. 

Bassett,  Mrs.,  353. 

Bassett,  Richard,  178,  179,  238,  314. 

Bayliss,  Jeremiah  H.,  558,  561,  570. 

Beach,  John  W.,  663. 

Bear,  John,  453. 

Beauchamp,  William,  359,  361. 

Beecher,  Lyman,  262. 

Bennett,  Charles  W.,  667. 

Bennett,  Colonel  Joseph,  676. 

Benson,  H.  C,  516,  524. 

Benton,  Sanford,  453. 

Berry,  Joseph  F.,  574,  674. 

Berryman,  Jerome  C,  418. 

Berry  man,  Newton  G.,  446. 

Bethany  Hospital,  680. 

Bethel  Church,  310,  346. 


Bewley,  Anthony,  508. 

Bigelow,  Russel,  515. 

Bingham,  Isaac  S.,  504. 

Bishop,  James,  519. 

Bishop,  Truman,  368. 

Bishop,  William  H.,  589,  590. 

Bishops,  257;  address  to  George 
Washington,  265  ;  rule  for  trial  of, 
284  ;  method  of  choosing,  discussed, 
292;  settled,  296;  veto  power,  357- 
359  ;  classified  as  effective  and  non- 
effective, 536 ;  two  thirds  of  votes 
required  for  election,  567,  577;  no 
discrimination  on  account  of  race  or 
color,  577;  in  Methodist  P^piscopal 
Church,  South,  637,  644,  646. 

Black,  William,  240,  261,  306. 

"  Black  Harry."    See  Hosier,  Harry. 

Board  of  Education,  525,  661,  662. 

Boardman,  Richard,  121-123,  128, 
147,  261. 

Boehm,  Henry,  297,  316. 

Bohler,  Peter,  73,  74,  84. 

Bond,  Thomas,  1 16. 

Bond,  Thomas  E.,  367,  405,  413, 
452,  480,  493,  494,  496. 

Book  Committee,  530,  531,  535. 

Book  Concern,  142,  294,  303,  377, 
443,  451,  488  ;  allegations  of  fraud, 
529-531  ;  investigation  and  report, 
533-535;  division  of  funds,  621, 
622  ;  value  of,  658. 

Book  of  Common  Prayer,  8. 

Book-steward,  272. 

Borein,  P.  R.,  495. 

Boston  University,  527,  540,  667,  698. 

Bourne,  Hugh,  613,  614. 

Bowen,  Elias,  417. 

Bowen,  J.  W.  E.,  577. 

Bowman,  Elisha  W.,  313. 

Bowman,  Thomas,  537,  541,  564,  577. 

Bowne,  Samuel  C,  664. 

Boyd,  James,  306. 

Braden,  John,  518. 

Bradley,  Alexander,  53^,. 

Brewster,  W.  H.,  404. 

Bridgman,  G.  H.,  666. 

P>riggs,  M.  C,  487. 

Briggs,  William,  641. 

Bristol,  Frank  M.,  643. 

British  Conference,  296,  355,  371, 
378,  391,  463,  522,  643. 


INDEX. 


703 


Brooks,  Joseph,  496. 

Brooks,  J.  W.,  591. 

Brown,  John  M.,  586. 

Brown,  Morris,  582,  584. 

Brown,  Paul  R.,  390. 

Bruce,  Philip,  316,  331. 

Bryan,  General,  269. 

Buckley,  James  M.,  530,  551. 

Burke,  William,  331. 

Burns,  Francis,  376,  497. 

Butcher,  Ada  C,  575. 

Butler,  William,  651,  652. 

Butler,  Mrs.  William,  654. 

Buttz,  Henry  A.,  664. 

Cain,  R.  H.,  586. 

"  California  Christian  Advocate,"  487, 

492. 
California  Wesleyan  College,  490. 
Calm  Address,  158,  163,  164. 
Campbell,  Jabez  P.,  586. 
Camp-meetings,  298,  613. 
Canadian   Methodism,  306-308,   342, 

343.350.351.355.361,369.370.471- 
Cane  Ridge,  298. 
Cannon,  Governor,  511. 
Cape  May  Commission,  547,  548,  636- 

638. 
Capers,  William,  371,  372,  408,  409, 

411,  420,  434,  438,  442,  452,  462, 

463,  472,  618,  623. 
Carlton,  Thomas,  494. 
Carroll,  H.  K.,  561. 
Cartwright,  Peter,  376,  433,  450,  453, 

540- 
Case,  William,  312,  343. 
Cass,  William  IX,  421,  422. 
Cassel,  Leonard,  ■x,Z'h- 
Cazenovia  Seminary,  362. 
Cennick,  John,  82. 
Centenary  contributions,  520. 
Centennial  of  American  Methodism, 

513.  519- 
Centennial    of     organized    American 

Methodism,  559-561,  640. 
"  Central  Christian  Advocate,"  495. 
Central  Tennessee  College,  518,  666, 

698. 
Central    Wesleyan    Orphan    Asylum, 

676. 
Chamberlayne,  Isaac,  498. 
Charles  I.,  16,  20. 
Charles  II.,  20. 


Chartered  Fund,  291. 

Chautauqua  movement,  671,  672. 

"  Children's  Missionary  Friend,"  654. 

Choate,  Rufus,  488,  628. 

"  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal," 
362,  405,  481. 

"  Christian  Herald,"  584. 

"  Christian  Recorder,"  584,  588. 

"  Christliche  Apologete,"  382. 

Church  Extension  Society,  513,  657, 
658,  686. 

Civil  War,  508-510,  629,  630. 

Claflin,  Governor  William,  522. 

Claflin,  Lee,  527. 

Clark,  Alexander,  604,  608. 

Clark,  Davis  Wasgatt,  496,  514,  517, 
528. 

Clark,  John,  442,  495. 

Clark,  Laban,  34I,  354. 

Clark  University,  539,  698. 

Clarke,  Adam,  45,  46. 

Clarke,  H.  J.,  494. 

Class-meeting,  86 ;  attendance  made 
voluntary,  513,  633,  636. 

Clay,  Henry,  474-476. 

Clinton,  I.  C,  595. 

Clopton,  David,  547. 

Clough,  William,  613. 

Coate,   Michael,  308. 

Coate,  Samuel,  308. 

Cobb,  J.  E.,  631. 

Cobleigh,  Nelson  E.,  539,  540. 

Coke,  Thomas,  225-228,  230;  ordi- 
nation, 231-233,  235-237;  in 
America,  238-240,  249-252  ;  com- 
plaints against,  253,  254;  Wesley's 
authority,  255,  256  ;  George  Wash- 
ington, 264  ;  again  in  United  States, 
272 ;  return  to  England,  281  ; 
Methodist  episcopacy,  292,  295, 
296;  General  Conference  of  1804, 
301  ;  difficulties  with  American 
Methodists,  316-322;  attempt  to 
unite  Wesleyans  with  Church  of 
England,  322-324 ;  death,  342,  343. 

Cokesbury  College,  240,  249,  251, 
259,  263,  288,  289. 

Coleman,  James,  299,  308. 

Coleman,  Seymour,  418. 

Colley,  Sir  Henry,  28. 

Collins,  John  A.,  408,  410-412,  428, 
452,  498. 


704 


IXDEX. 


Collins,  Judson  Dwight,  652. 
Colorado  Conference  amendment,  575. 
Colored  Metliodist  Episcopal  Church, 

597.  S9^- 

Colored  Methodists,  30cS,  310,  311. 

Colored  testimony,  394,  395. 

Comfort,  Silas,  394,  395,  427,  429. 

Committee  of  Nine,  443,  461,  485. 

Comstock,  George  1'".,  528. 

Conference,  first  Methodist,  89 ; 
American,  139,  145,  155,  170,  172, 
179-181,  183,  184,  187,  188,  190, 
191,  195,  240,  251,  252,  257  ;  Cana- 
dian, 307;  resolutions  regarding 
mixed  conferences,  541,  542. 

Congregational  Methodist  Church, 
608. 

Congregational  Methodists,  Colored, 
597- 

Convention,  Southern  conferences, 
459- 

Convocation  of  clergy,  5,  10. 

Convocation  of  1563,  13. 

Cook,  Cornelius,  261. 

Cook,  Valentine,  257. 

Cooke,  Edward,  666. 

Cooke,  C.  C,  511. 

Cooley,  Judge  Dennis,  534. 

Cooper,  Ezekiel,   277,    294,  302,  303, 

Cooper,  John,  306. 

Copenhagen     Theological     Institut;', 

656. 
Cornell,  John  1?.,  664. 
Cornell,  William  W.,  665. 
Cornell  College,  Iowa,  665,  698. 
Coughland,  Lawrence,  307. 
"  Council,"  263,  264,  272,  281. 
Covel,  James,  348. 
Cox,  Melville,  374. 
Cox,  Philip,  272. 
Crandall,  Phineas,  421. 
Cranmer,  9. 

Cranston,  Earl,  558,  578. 
Crary,  Benjamin  F.,  516,  574,  575. 
Crawford,  M.  D'C,  547. 
Crawford,  William  H.,  665. 
Crenshaw,  Thomas,  271. 
Cromwell,  James  O.,  248,  306. 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  20. 
Crooks,    George   R.,  498,   505,   519, 

531- 


Crouse,  John,  665. 

Crowder,  Thomas,  41 S,  443,  444,  455. 

Crowell,  Seth,  299,  354. 

Cumback,  \\'.,  638. 

Cumberland  Presbyterians,  327. 

Cumniings,  Joseph,  663,  667. 

Curry,    Daniel,    485,    500,    516,    519, 

547,  55^.  561. 
Curts,  Lewis,  573. 
Dashiell,  Robert  L.,  539,  549. 
Davis,  Mrs.  John,  655. 
L)ay,  James  R.,  665. 
Deaconess  movement,  567,  674,675. 
Declaration  of  Independence,  171. 
Deed  of  Declaration,  229. 
Deed  of  Settlement,  290. 
Deeds    for    Methodist    chapels,    228, 

229. 
Deering,  William,  534. 
Dempster,  John,  380,  481,  498. 
Denton,  John  B.,  381. 
De  Pauw,  Washington  C,  534,  563. 
De    Pauw     University    (see    Indiana 

Asbury),  564,  698. 
De  Peyster,   General  J.   Watts,  671, 

677. 
Derrick,  W.  B.,  588. 
Dickerson,  W.  F.,  586. 
Dickins,    John,    173,    187,    192-194, 

210,  238,  264,  272,  294,  304. 
Dickinson,  Elizabeth,  641. 
Dickinson  College,  375,  664,698. 
Dillon,  Isaac,  524. 
Disci[)line,  first,  in   America,   1 14;   of 

Methodist   Episc0p.1l  Church,  241  ; 

revised,    283,    357;    of    Methoilist 

Episcopal  Church,  South,  646,  647. 
Disney,  R.  R.,  586. 
District  conferences,  355. 
Divorce,  555,  641. 
Doctrine  of  Christian  perfection,  91, 

304,  609. 
1  )octrines,  90,  20I. 
Doggett,  David  S.,  620,  631,  634. 
Dollner,  Harold,  656. 
Dorchester,  Daniel,  399,  400. 
Dorsey,  Dennis  P.,  365,  366. 
Dougherty,  George,  299,  300. 
D(niglas,  George,  638. 
Douglass,  PVederick,  593,  594. 
Dow,  Lorenzo,  312,  613. 
Dr.ake,  Benj.amin  M.,  421. 


INDEX. 


705 


Drew,  Daniel,  520. 

Drew  Theological  Seminary,  664. 

Dromgoole,  187. 

Duncan,  E.  B.,  381. 

Duncan,  James  A.,  545. 

Duncan,  William  W.,  641. 

Dunham,  Darius,  308. 

Dunwody,  Samuel,  434. 

Durbin,  John  P.,  362,  374,  375,  389, 
437,  447,  452,  453,  456,  473,  493, 
495.  539,  650,  651. 

Early,  John,  455,  461-463,  621,  623, 
627,  628,  630,  636. 

Early,  William,  306. 

Easter,  John,  349. 

Eaton,  Homer,  570,  573. 

Ecumenical  Conference,  first,  549, 
552,  553,  593;  second,  570,  571. 

Eddy,  Thomas  M.,  496,  539,  540. 

Edward  VI.,  9,  13. 

Edwards,  Arthur,  539. 

Eligibility  of  women,  to  preach,  541, 
550,  555  ;  to  membership  in  Gen- 
eral Conference,  564-566,  572,  573, 

575,  576. 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  12-14. 
Elizabeth  Gamble  Deaconess  Home, 

674;  and  Christ's  Hospital,  679. 
Elliott,  Charles,   376,   379,  444,  447, 

450,  456,  480,  487,  494,  505,  511, 

528. 
Elliott,  John,  51 1,  531. 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  509. 
Embury,  J.  C,  588. 
Embury,  Mary  Switzer,  98. 
Embury,    Philip,    98,    99,    102,    107, 

no.  III,  344. 
Emory,  John,  358,  359,  361,  367,  372- 

374,  377,  491- 
Emory  College,  382,  622. 
Emory  and  Henry  College,  622. 
Entire    sanctification.      See    Doctrine 

of  Christian  Perfection. 
Epworth  Children's  Home,  677. 
Epworth  League,  574,  673,  686. 
"  Epworth  Herald,"  674. 
Evangelical  Association,  616. 
Evans,  Caleb,  160,  166. 
Evans,  John,  522,  534. 
Evans,  John  G.,  666. 
Fancher,  E.  L.,  488,  530,  547,  628. 
Father  Pennington's  Church,  198. 


Fayerweather,  D.  B.,  663. 

Few,  Ignatius  A.,  394,  395,  400. 

Filmore,  Glezen,  443,  451. 

Finley,  James  B.,  420,  431,  451. 

Finley,  John  P.,  362. 

Finney,  Thomas  M.,  547. 

Fisk,  Clinton  B.,  522,  545,  547,  571, 

636. 
Fisk,  Mrs.  Clinton  B.,  655. 
Fisk,  Wilbur,  362,  363,  371,  379,  380, 

386. 
Fiske,  L.  R.,  666. 
Fisler,  Benjamin,  306. 
Fitzgerald,  James  N.,  568. 
Fitzgerald,  O.  P.,  628,  631,  640,  644. 
Five  Points  Mission,  675. 
Fletcher,  John,  95. 
Floy,  James,  390,  496. 
Folts,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  P.,  668. 
Folts  Mission  Institute,  668. 
Forrest  Chapel,  183. 
Foss,  Cyrus  D.,  550,  638,  663. 
Foster,  Randolph  S.,  537,  577. 
"  Foundry,"  85,  87. 
Fowler,  Charles    H.,    545,    547,  551, 

555,  556,  636,  667. 
Fowler,  Littleton,  381. 
Fraternal    relations,   482,    483,    544- 

546. 
Fred  Finch  Orphanage,  676. 
Free   Methodist    Church,    503,    614, 

615. 
Freedmen's    Aid    Society,    526,  660, 

661. 
Freemasonry,  370,  373. 
Fry,  Benjamin  St.  James,  539,  571. 
Fuller,  Erasmus  Q.,  547. 
Gaines,  Wesley  J.,  586,  588. 
Galbreth,  George,  589. 
Galloway,  Charles  JB.,  641,  642,  646. 
Gamewell,  John,  316. 
Gammon,  E.  H.,  554,  555. 
Gammon  Theological  Seminary,  555. 
Garland,  L.  C,  545,  546. 
Garrett,  Mrs.  Eliza,  495. 
Garrett    Biblical  Institute,   495,   667, 

668. 
Garrettson,  FVeeborn,  170,    186-188, 

200,  239,  248,  255,  257,  259,  260, 

264,   268,  283,  302,  306,  307,  354, 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  385. 


7o6 


INDEX. 


Gatch,  Philip,  148,  149,  151,  208, 
299. 

General  Board  of  Trustees,  513. 

General  Conference,  (1792),  281 ; 
(1796),  289;  (1800),  295;  (1804), 
30i;(i8o8),  316,  325,  330;  (1812), 
338;  (1816),  348;  (1820),  355; 
(1824),  358;  (1828),  363;  (1832'), 
371,376,377;  (1836),  378;  (1840), 
382,  396,  400,  402;  (1844),  407- 
457.  477-480;  (1848),  482-487; 
(1852),  490-494;  (1856),  495-498; 
(i860),  500-505 ;  (1864),  510-517; 
(1868),  521-526;  (1872),  532-539; 
(1876),  540-547;  (1880),  549-55' ; 
(1884),  555-558;  (1888),  564-570; 
(1892),  572-574,  646,  670;  (1896), 
575-581. 

General  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  (1846), 
617-619;  (1850),  619,  620;  (1854), 
620,621;  (1858),  622-629;  (1866), 
630-633 ;  (1870),  634,  635 ; (1874), 
636,  637  ;  (1878),  638  ;  (1882),  638, 
639; (1886),  640; (1890),  642-645; 
(1894),  645,  646,  671. 

General  Rules,  91,  334,  687  (Appen- 
dix I.). 

General  superintendents,  Asbury  on 
ordination,  232,  235-237;  Coke  and 
Asbury,  241-243,  254;  election  or 
appointment,  255,  256. 

Genesee  Conference  Seminary,  375. 

George,   Enoch,  316,  m,  348,  354, 

371- 
German   Methodist  Orphan  Asylum, 

676. 
Gibson,  Tobias,  294. 
Gladstone,  William  E.,  684. 
Goodrich,  Judge  Grant,  495,  534. 
Goodsell,  Daniel  A.,  569. 
Goucher,  John  P.,  646,  668,  669. 
Gough,  Henry  Dorsey,  149,  150,  172, 

186. 
Gough,  Mrs.  Prudence,  353. 
Granbery,  John  C,  639. 
Grant,  Abraham,  586,  588. 
Green,  A.  L.  P.,  425,  489. 
Grey,  Lady  Jane,  9. 
Griffith,  Alfred,  414,  416,  450,  453. 
Grimshaw,  William,  228. 
Hamilton,  George  J.,  523. 


Hamilton,  John  W.,  574. 

Hamline,  Leonidas  L.,  426,  427,  443, 

447.  451.  456.  467,  477,  479.  490. 

491,  666. 
Hamline  University,  666,  698. 
Hammett,  William,  285. 
Hammond,  E.  W.  S.,  574. 
Hampden,  John,  18. 
Handy,  James  A.,  586,  588. 
Hannah,  John,  358. 
Harding,  Francis  A.,  409,  410,  458. 
Hargrove,  Robert  K.,  547,  639,  640. 
Harper,  John,  299. 
Harris,  C.  R.,  595. 
Harris,  William   L.,   495,   499,    505, 

537,  561,  635,  651. 
Harrison,  Benjamin,  570,  670. 
Harrison,  W.  H.,  640. 
Harrison,  W.  P.,  561. 
Hartley,  Joseph,  177. 
Hartzell,  Joseph  C,  551,  574,  578. 
"  Haus  und  Herd,"  539. 
Haven,    Erastus  O.,    523,    539,    550, 

551- 
Haven,  Gilbert,  538,  548,  591. 
Hayes,  Mrs.  Rutherford  B.,  655. 
Haygood,  Atticus  G.,  635,  639,  640, 

644,  649. 
Heck,    Barbara,    99,    100,    106,    112, 

"3,  352- 
Heck,  Paul,  99. 
Hedding,  Elijah,  316,  332,  359,  360, 

365,  386,  388,  392,  440,  447,  460, 

490. 
Hedding  College,  666,  698, 
Hedstrom,  Olaf  Gustav,  653. 
Hendrix,  Eugene  R.,  641,  642. 
Henkle,  Moses  M.,  620. 
Henry  VHL,  3-8. 
Herring,  J.  W.,  605, 
Herrnhut,  77. 
Hibbard,  F.  G.,  496,  499. 
Hinton,  J.  W.,  640. 
Hitchcock,  Luke,  504,  551. 
Hitt,  Daniel,  335. 
Hobart,  John,  453. 
Hodgson,  Francis,  392. 
Holmes,  David,  Jr.,  453. 
Holsey,  Bishop,  599. 
Homes  for  the  aged,  675. 
Hood,  J.  W.,  595. 
Horton,  Jotham,  387,  404. 


INDEX. 


707 


Hosier,  Harry,  240,  268. 

Hosmer,  William,  487,  494,  499. 

Hospitals,  678-6S1. 

Hoss,  E.  E.,  646. 

Howard,  John,  273. 

Howe,  Samuel,  354. 

Hoyt,  Francis  S.,  539. 

Hoyt,  Oliver,  511,  519,  522,  531,  562, 

563. 
Hoyt,  William,  664. 
Hull,  Hope,  286. 
Hunt,  Aaron,  305. 
Hunt,  Albert  S.,  305,  545,  636. 
Hunt,  Sanford,  548,  574,  575. 
Hunter,  William  M.,  480,  539,  605. 
Huntingdon,  Countess  of,  84. 
Hurlbut,  Jesse  L.,  569,  673. 
Hurst,  John  Y.,  550,  670. 
Hutchinson,  Sylvester,  348. 
Hymn-book,  prepared,  355  ;   revised, 

484,  543,  544- 
Iliff,  John  Wesley,  665. 
Iliff,  W.  S.,  665. 
Iliff  School  of  Theology,  665. 
Illinois    Wesleyan    University,    666, 

698. 
Indiana  Asbury  University,  382,  563. 
Iowa  Wesleyan  University,  489. 
Itinerant     general     superintendency, 

468. 
Jacoby,  Ludwig  S.,  540,  653. 
James  I.,  14. 
James  II.,  21. 
Janes,    Edmund    S.,    461,    477,    478, 

509,  531,  549,  605,  635. 
Jarratt,    Devereaux,    134,    189,    191, 

248,  250. 
Jennings,  H.  C,  579. 
Jessop,  William,  306. 
John,  I.  D.,  631. 
John    Street,    107;    deed   of   church, 

109,  no,  229;   church,  347. 
Johnson,  Reverdy,  488,  628. 
Johnson,  Reverdy,  Jr.,  488. 
Johnson,  Samuel,  159. 
Johnson,  W.  C,  631. 
Jones,  Peter,  362. 
Jones,  S.  T.,  591. 
Joyce,  Isaac  W.,  568,  667. 
judd,  Orange,  663. 
Judicial  Conference,  536. 
Junior  Epworth  Leagues,  673. 


Kansas  City  University,  606. 
Kavanaugh,  Hubbard  H.,  621,  623, 

630,  640. 
Keeler,  Sylvanus,  299. 
Keener,  John  Christian,  636. 
Kelso,  Thomas,  676. 
Kelso  Home,  676. 
Key,  Joseph  S.,  641,  642. 
Kidder,  Daniel  P.,  380,  480,  551. 
King,  John,  124,  125. 
King,  William  F.,  665. 
Kingsley,  Calvin,  496,  514,  515,  528, 

665. 
Kingsley,  Mrs.,  299. 
Kneil,  Thomas,  511. 
Knight,  O.  O.,  518. 
Kynett,  A.  J.,  513,  525,  657. 
La  Grange  College,  622. 
•Lambert,  Jeremiah,  248. 
Lanahan,  John,  508,  510,  524,  529- 

531- 
Lane,  George,  480. 
Larrabee,  William  C,  494. 
Larsson,  John  P.,  653. 
Latta,  Samuel  A.,  620. 
Laud,  17. 

Lawrence,  Amos,  666. 
Lawrence  University,  666,  699. 
Lay     representation,   361,   491,   492, 

502,  512,  516,  522-524,  531,   590, 

614,  631,  632. 
Leard,  Michael,  257. 
Leavitt,  Judge,  488. 
Lebanon  Seminary,  376. 
Lee,  Benjamin  F.,  586,  588. 
Lee,  Jason  and  Daniel,  376. 
Lee,  Jesse,   191,  213-216,  249,  260- 

262,  268,  269,  293,  296,  306,  316, 

328,  331,  332,  336,  353. 
Lee,  Leroy  M.,  480,  491,  618. 
Lee,  Luther,  387,  390,  391,  401,  404, 

520,  611. 
Lee,  Wilson,  199. 
Legal  Hundred,  279. 
Leonard,  Adna  B.,  569. 
Licensing  women.     See  Eligibility  of 

Women. 
Liebhart,  Henry,  539,  574,  575. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  508,  512,  608. 
Little,  Charles  J.,  668. 
Local  preachers,   184,  188,  190,  191, 

197,  ll<i>  398. 


7o8 


IXDEX. 


Locating    traveling    preachers,   355, 

380. 
Loguen,  J.  W.,  591. 
Lomax,  T.  H.,  595. 
Long,  Albert  L.,  653. 
Longstreet,  A.  B.,  423,  444,  456. 
Lord,  Daniel,  488,  628. 
Lore,  Dallas  D.,  516,  540. 
Losee,  William,  307,  308. 
Lotteries,  340,  643. 
Love-feasts,  85;   ticket,  120. 
Lovejoy,  John,  453. 
Lovely  Lane,  134. 
Luckey,  Samuel,  379,  451. 
Lucknow  Women's  College,  656. 
Lucy  Webb  Hayes  Training-school, 

655- 
McAnally,  D.  R.,  631. 
McCabe,  Charles  C,  558,  578,  652,. 

657- 
McCabe,  L.  D.,  664. 
McCaine,  Alexander,  367. 
McClaskey,  John,  311,  318,  331. 
McClintock,  John,  487,  498,  519,  525, 

528. 
McEldowney,  John,  611. 
McFerrin,  J.  B.,  443,  480,  618,  628, 

637,  638,  645. 
McGavv,  Dr.,  183. 
McGeary,  John,  307. 
McHenry,  Barnabas,  288. 
IMcKendree,  William,  257,  284,  316, 

325-327.  331,  339,  341,  348,  354, 

358,  376. 
McKinley,  William,  665. 
Maclay,  Robert  S.,  652. 
McLean,  Judge,  489,  622. 
McTyeire,  Holland  N.,  628,  631,  633, 

634,  642. 
Magee,  John  and  W^illiam,  298. 
Mahan,  Asa,  604. 
Maine  Wesleyan  Academy,  362. 
Mains,  George  P.,  579. 
Mallalieu,  W'illard  F.,  555,  556. 
Mann,  John,  123,  193,  306. 
Martin,  John  T.,  656. 
Martin  Institute,  656. 
Martindale,  Stephen,  453. 
Marvin,  Enoch  M.,  631,  633,  638. 
Mary,  Queen,  10,  11. 
Mason,  M.  C.  P..,  580. 
Mason,  R.  Z.,  666. 


Mason,  Thomas,  354,  357. 

Mather,  S.  F.,  607. 

Matlack,   Lucius  C.,  388,  389,  391, 

404,  521,  525. 
Matthew,  W.  S.,  579. 
Mattison,  Hiram,  498,  603. 
Maxfield,  Thomas,  86,  226. 
Mendenhall,    James    W^,    569,    574, 

575- 

Meredith,  William,  285. 

Merrick,  Frederick,  664. 

Merrill,  Joseph  A.,  391. 

Merrill,  Stephen  M.,  524,  537,  581. 

Merritt,  Timothy,  391. 

Merwin,  Samuel,  308,  350,  354. 

Methodist,  origin  of  the  term,  59 ; 
doctrines,  90,  91,  201  ;  first  ser- 
vice in  New  York,  loi ;  first  church 
bell,  150;  first  sermons,  268;  first 
centenary,  382. 

"Methodist,"  the,  505,  554. 

"  Methodist  Advocate,"  539,  540. 

Methodist  Church,  603,  604. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  organ- 
ized, 241  ;  representative  govern- 
ment introduced,  328-335 ;  work 
of  women,  352,  353;  reconstructed 
in  the  South,  517,  518;  Cape  May 
Commission,  547,  548;  Missionary 
Society,  650-653 ;  Woman's  For- 
eign Missionary  Society,  654 ; 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety, 655  ;  missionary  enterprises 
and  benefactions,  656,  657;  Church 
Extension  Society,  657,  658;  Book 
Concern,  658  ;  periodicals, 659,  660  ; 
Sunday-school  Union,  660 ;  Freed- 
men's  Aid,  660,  661 ;  Board  of 
Education,  661-663;  colleges  and 
universities,  663-671,  698,  699; 
Chautauqua  movement,  671,  672; 
Epworth  League,  673,  674 ;  dea- 
coness work,  674,  675  ;  homes,  675- 
677;   hospitals,  677-681. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
organized,  460 ;  first  General  Con- 
ference, 461 ;  on  slavery,  481,  619, 
624-627;  fraternal  relations,  482, 
483,  544,  545 ;  commissioners, 
488 ;  Supreme  Court  decision,  489, 
622  ;  accessions,  508,  630  ;  pulpits 
seized  by  Bishop  Ames,   510;   se- 


INDEX. 


709 


cessions,  517,  518;  lay  representa- 
tion, 533,  631,  632;  Cape  May 
Commission,  547>  54^ »  history, 
617-649;   Book  Concern,  620,  630, 

637.  639>  648- 
Methodist     Episcopal     Hospital,    in 

.Brooklyn,    678,    679 ;    in    Omaha, 

679,  680. 
Methodist  General  Biblical  Institute, 

480. 
"Methodist    Magazine,"    342,     354, 

364- 
Methodist  Protestant  Church,  origin, 

368 ;      first    General    Conference, 

599;   slavery,   600;    division,   601; 

negotiations    with    the     Methodist 

Episcopal     Church,     South,     601  ; 

"  Methodist  Church  "  formed,  603  ; 

Adrian  College,  604 ;  reunion,  605  ; 

enterprises,     606 ;     eminent    men, 

607,  608. 
"Methodist  Recorder,"  604. 
"  Michigan      Christian      Advocate," 

659- 

Miles,  W.  H.,  598. 

Miley,  John,  641,  664. 

Miller,  Lewis,  568. 

Miller,  William,  589. 

Ministers'  and  Laymen's  Union,  500. 

Mission  conferences,  rights    of   dele- 
gates, 521. 

Missionary    bishop,    495,    496,    517, 

556,  .567.  569.  578,  580. 
"  Missionary  Journal,"  362. 
Missionary   Society,    354,    480,    520, 

650-653. 
Missions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 

Church,  South,  647,  648. 
Missions  to  Indians,  362,  376. 
Missions  to  Liberia,  374,  376,  651. 
Missions  to  South  America,  377,  380, 

651. 
Missions  to  Texas,  381. 
Mitchell,  John  T.,  480. 
Mitchell,  William,  312. 
Monroe,  David  S.,  555. 
Monroe,  Samuel  Y.,  498,  513,  525. 
Moore,  David  H.,  570,  573,  665. 
Moore,  J.  J.,  591. 
Moorfields,  85. 
Moravians,  66,  85,  683. 
Morrell,  Thomas,  264. 


Morris,   Thomas  A.,   376,   379,   440, 

441,  447.  458,  459,  536,  540. 
Mount  Union  College,  489,  699. 
"  Mutual  Rights,"  364,  366. 
Myers,  Edward  H.,  547,  631. 
Myers,  Lewis,  316. 
Nast,  Albert  J.,  574. 
Nast,  William,  381,  477,  480,  653. 
"  National  Magazine,"  494,  504. 
"  Nazarites,"  502. 
Nazrey,  W.,  584. 
Xeal,  George,  307. 
Neal,  Thomas,  446. 
Nelson,  Judge,  488,  489. 
Nelson,  Reuben,  539,  548. 
Nesbit,  Samuel  H.,  505. 
New  Congregational  Methodists,  609. 
New    England    Antislavery    Society, 

385. 
"  New  England  Christian  Advocate," 

387- 
New    England    Deaconess    Hospital, 

680. 
New    Hampshire    Conference    Semi- 
nary, 489. 
New  Jersey  Conference,  259. 
New  York  Conference,  259,  264,  289. 
Newman,  Angle  F.,  564. 
Newman,  John  P.,  547,  568. 
Nickerson,  Heman,  453- 
Nind,  Mary  C,  564. 
Ninde,  William  X.,  555,  667. 
Norris,  Samuel,  378,  387,  525. 
North,  Charles  C,  519. 
North  Carolina  Conference,  258,  272. 
"  Northern  Independent,"  499. 
"  Northwestern  Christian  Advocate," 

492. 
Northwestern    University,   490,   667, 

699. 
Gates,  Titus,  36. 
Oglethorpe,  James,  64. 
Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  664,  699. 
O'Kelly,  James,    250,  264,  281,  283- 

285,  288,  293. 
Olin,    Stephen,    420,    439,   444,   447, 

465,  472,  490. 
Olivers,  Thomas,  160. 
Open-air  services,  78,  79- 
Ordinances.      See  Sacraments. 
Organic  union,  643. 
Orphan  asylums,  675-677. 


7IO 


INDEX. 


Otterbein,  Philip  William,  241,  615. 

Owen,  Isaac,  487. 

Owen,  John,  522,  534. 

"  Pacific  Christian  Advocate,"  495. 

Paine,   Robert,  443,   450,   462,   463, 

623,  639,  640. 
Paine  Institute,  648. 
Palmer,  Abraham  J.,  579. 
Parker,  E.  W.,  654. 
Parker,  Mrs.  E.  W.,  654. 
Parker,  Linus,  639,  640. 
Parker,  Lois  S.,  575. 
Parker,  Theodore,  494. 
Parliamentary  deed,  279. 
Patten,  Captain,  133. 
Pattison,  Robert  E.,  564,  643. 
Patton,  Samuel,  620. 
Payne,  Charles  II.,  569,  664. 
Payne,  D.  A.,  584. 
Pearne,  Thomas  H.,  496. 
Peck,  A.  D.,  453. 
Peck,  George,  439,  447,  480,  483, 487, 

489,  498,  547. 
Peck,  Jesse  T.,   425,   441,    527,  538, 

554- 
Peck,  Jonas  Oramel,  569,  574,  575. 
Pedicord,  Caleb  B,,    173,    180,   210- 

213- 

Peking  University,  656. 

Pennington,  Robert,  198. 

Pennington  Seminary,  666. 

Perrine,  William  H.,  532. 

Perry  Hall,  149. 

Petersen,  O.  P.,  653. 

Petty,  C.  C,  595. 

Pfeiffer,  Charles,  675. 

Phillips,  John  M.,  539,  564,  570. 

Phillips,  Zebulon,  494. 

Phoebus,  William,  316,  331. 

Pickering,  George,  331. 

Pierce,  George  F.,  422,  425,  621,  623, 
640. 

Pierce,  Lovick,  417,  442,  459,  463, 
482,  483,   545,  618,  619,  623,  638. 

Pilmoor,  Joseph,  121,  147,  148. 

Pitman,  Charles,  480,  493,  650. 

Pitts,  Fountain  E.,  378. 

Pittsburg  "  Christian  Advocate,"  376. 

Plan  of  Separation,  448,  449,  453,  460, 
469,  470,  488,  617,  619,  693  (Ap- 
pendix III.). 

Foe,  Adam,  453,  494. 


Pole,  Cardinal,  10. 

Poole,  William  C,  365. 

Porter,  James,   391,  443,  474,   481, 

495- 
Porter,  John  S.,  531. 
Porter,  Mrs.  Sarah,  352. 
Potts,  James  H.,  660. 
Power,  John  H.,  453,  487. 
Presbury,  J.,  132. 
Presiding  elders,  284,  303,  331,  341, 

350,  356,  357.  359,  368,  542,  543. 

567- 
Preston,  Benjamin,  390. 
Preston,  Samuel,  523. 
Prettyman,  Wesley,  653. 
Price,  Thomas  W.,  531. 
Primitive  Methodists,  613,  614. 
Prindle,  Cyrus,  404,   521,   602,  603, 

611. 
Probationary  system,  introduced,  189  ; 

abolished  in  church.  South,  633. 
Protest  of   Southern  delegates,  445, 

446. 
Punshon,  William  Morley,  324,  522. 
Puritan  party,  14,  15. 
Quarterly  Conference,  first  recorded, 

132. 
Quarterly  Meeting,  239,  269. 
"  Quarterly  Review,"  374. 
Quinn,  William  Paul,  582,  583. 
Ragan,  John,  306. 
Randall,  Joshua,  331. 
Randall,  Josiah,  363. 
Randolph  Macon  College,  375,  622. 
Rankin,  Thomas,  136-138,  168,  174. 
Rawlings,  Isaac,  133. 
Raymond,  Bradford  P.,  663,  666. 
Raymond,  Minor,  498. 
Reece,  Richard,  358. 
Reed,  George  E.,  664. 
Reed,  Nelson,  331. 
Reese,  Eli  Y.,  600,  601. 
Reformation,  4,  6. 
Reformed  Methodists,  342. 
Reid,  John  Mason,    516,    524,    529, 

569- 

Remington  brothers,  527. 

Reply  to  the  Protest,  453-455.  470- 

Representative  government,  intro- 
duced, 328,  330,  Zll-2,7fi,  691  (Ap- 
pendix II.). 

Republican  Methodists,  284. 


INDEX. 


711 


Restrictive  Rule,  Sixth,  371,  372, 480, 
486;  Second,  523,  524,  532;  First, 

541- 
Revivals,  297,  298,  315,  326. 
Reynolds,  George  C,  530. 
Rich,  Isaac,  522,  528,  539. 
Richardson,  Chauncey,  620. 
Ridgaway,  H.  B.,  639,  667. 
"  Riggi'^g  loft,"  106. 
Rippey,  Amanda  C,  564. 
Roberts,  Benjamin  T. ,  502-504. 
Roberts,  George,  286,  287. 
Roberts,  John  Wright,  517,  540. 
Roberts,    Robert  R.,   316,   348,  349, 

354,  407- 
Rodda,  Martin,  174. 
Rogers,  Henry  Wade,  646,  667. 
Rome  Theological  School,  656. 
Root,  F.  H.,  522. 
Ross,  Peter,  590. 

Roszel,  Stephen  G.,  316,  331,  t,t,2,- 
Rounds,  Nelson,  480. 
Row,  Henry  F.,  453. 
Ruff,  Daniel,  193. 
Runyon,  Theodore,  530. 
Rush,  Christopher,  589,  593. 
Russell,  James,  313. 
Rust,  Richard  S.,  526,  539,  574,  585. 
Ruter,   Martin,   308,  357,  361,   375, 

381,  452. 
Ryan,  Henry,  344,  350. 
Sacraments,  144,    182-184,   186,  187, 

201,  230,  238,  249. 
St.  Christopher's  Home,  676. 
Sale,  John,  340. 
Salter,  Moses  B.,  586,  588. 
Sam's  Creek,  lib. 
Samson,  Joseph,  350. 
Samson,  Luther,  362. 
Sanford,  Peter  P.,  416,  453. 
Sargent,  Thomas  B.,  442,  443. 
Sawyer,  J.  E.  C,  574. 
Sawyer,  Joseph,  308. 
Scarritt    Bible    and  Training-school, 

648. 
Schell,  E.  A.,  674. 
Scott,  Elihu,  391. 
Scott,  Isaiah  B.,  580. 
Scott,  Levi,  487,  492,  517,  554. 
Scott,    Orange,    378,    387,    391,   394, 

401-404,  466,  611. 
Scranton,  William  Benton,  653. 


Secessions,  284,  285,  300,  309,  311, 
346-348,  367,  403,  508,  510,  608, 
609. 

Secret  societies,  373, 492, 609, 612,615. 

Sehon,  Edmund  W.,  432,  446,  620. 

Seney,  George  I.,  663,  678. 

Seys,  John,  376,  497,  518. 

Shadford,  George,  136,  169,  175,  176. 

Shent,  William,  274. 

Shinkle,  Amos,  522,  534. 

Shinn,  Asa,  316,  366,  368,  599. 

Shorter,  James  A.,  586. 

Sibley,  W.  J.,  680. 

Sibley  Memorial  Hospital,  680. 

Simonds,  S.  D.,  487,  494. 

Simpson,  Matthew,  382,  446,  485, 
487,  492,  555,  558,  665,  670. 

Simpson,  Mrs.,  676. 

Sims,  C.  N.,  665. 

Slater  F'und,  644.  / 

Slavery,  185,  197,  244,  245,  250,  291, 
297,  299,  302,  303,  335,  336,  351, 
378,  385-388,  390,  391-476,  481, 
482,  494,  498,  500,  501,  505-508, 
5",  593,  594,  600-602,  619,  624- 
627. 

Sleeper,  Jacob,  527. 

Slicer,  Henry,  421,  442,  591. 

Smith,  Charles  W.,  558. 

Smith,  Edward,  404. 

Smith,  Leven,  348. 

Smith,  William  A.,  394,  401,  409, 
410,  418,  427,  456,  489. 

Smith,  William  T.,  579. 

Snethen,    Nicholas,    341,    364,    366, 

533,  599- 
Snyder,  John  M.,  453. 
Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel, 

64,  65. 
Soule,   Joshua,  316,  331,  351,  354- 

356,  359,  360,  363,  392,  393,  395, 

407,  416,  435,  440,  447,  458-461, 

463,  467,  484,  623,  634. 
SoutherH  conferences,  458,   480,  484. 
Sovereign,  Thomas,  446. 
Spaulding,  Justin,  380. 
Spencer,  John,  418. 
Spencer,  Peter,  347. 
Spencer,  William  A.,  657. 
Spicer,  Tobias,  443. 
Spraggs,  Samuel,  175,  192,  193,  303. 
Spy  wood,  George  H.,  589. 


712 


INDEX. 


Stamp  Act,  152. 

Stamper,  Jonathan,  434,  446. 

Stanton,  Henry  B.,  401. 

"  Star  of  Zion,"  592,  595. 

Stebbins,  Cyrus,  304,  306. 

Steel,  S.  A.,  643. 

Steele,  George  M  ,  666. 

Stevens,    Abel,   381,   386,   486,   494, 

496,  498,  500,  505,  519. 
Stevenson,  E.,  462. 
Stevenson,  Thomas  Bowman,  570. 
Stevenson,  William,  381. 
Stewart,  Scott,  679. 
Stillwell,  William  M.,  347,  348. 
Stillwellites,  348. 

Stockton,  Thomas  H.,  600,  607,  608. 
Stockton,  William  S.,  364,  607. 
Storrs,  George,  378,  387,  525. 
Stout,  Andrew  V.,  522. 
Stowe,  William  P.,  551. 
Strawberry  Alley,  134. 
Strawbridge,  Mrs.,  352. 
Strawbridge,  Robert,  113-116,  201. 
Stringfield,  Thomas,  418. 
Strong,  James,  511,  533,  664. 
Summerfield,  John,  xi. 
Summers,  Thomas  O.,  459,  462,  626, 

639- 

Sunday-school  Union,  363,  384,  480, 

660. 
Sunday-schools,  271. 
Sunday  service,  246. 
.Sunderland,   La  Roy,   386,  391-393, 

404. 
Swift,  Marcus,  404. 
Switzer,  Peter,  99. 
Swormstedt,  I.eroy,  480. 
Syracuse  University,  527,  665,  699. 
Talbot,  S.  D.,  591. 
Tanner,  Benjamin  T.,  586,  588. 
Taylor,  Father,  386. 
Taylor,  Marshall  W.,  558,  562. 
Taylor,  Thomas,  117. 
Taylor,  William,  487,  556-558,  577. 
Tefft,  B.  F.,  487. 
Temperance,  185,  192,  242,  291,  292, 

340.  351,  371,    Z^Z.  501,  618,  640, 

641,  647. 
'J'erry,  David,  497. 
'I'hirty-ninc  Articles,  13,  247. 
Thoburn,  James  M.,  569. 
Thomas,  Eleazar,  496. 


Thompson,  Abraham,  348. 
Thompson,  George,  386,  401. 
Thomson,  Abraham,  5S8. 
Thomson,    Edward,   480,    498,    504, 

514,  529,  664. 
Thorpe,  Thomas,  354. 
Tigert,  John  J.,  646. 
Time   limit,   303-306,  5 1 1,   567,  580, 

631-633- 
Tolleson,  James,  328. 
Totten,  Joseph,  305. 
Toy,  Joseph,  ill. 
Tract  Society,  352. 
Transylvania  University,  618. 
Travis,  John,  314. 
Trimble,  J.  M.,  420,  516. 
Trimble,  Lydia  A.,  575,  576. 
True,  Charles  K.,  390. 
"  True  Wesleyan,"  404. 
Turner,  H.  M.,  586,  588. 
Union  American  Methodist  Episcopal 

Church,  347- 
Union  Societies,  364,  367. 
United   Brethren  in  Christ,  615,  616. 
United  Societies,  84. 
University  of  Denver,  665,  699. 
University  of  the  Pacific,  489,  699. 
University  Senate,  661. 
Uphani,  Frederick,  408. 
U.  S.  Grant  University,  666,  667,  699. 
Vail,  Stephen  M.,  481. 
Vance,  Robert  B.,  547. 
V'anderbilt,  Cornelius,  638. 
Vanderbilt,  William  H.,  641. 
Vanderbilt  University,  638,  641,  642. 
Vanderhorst,  R.  H.,  598. 
Van  Kirk,  Lizzie  D.,  564. 
Vanncst,  Peter,  308. 
Varick,  James,  348,  588. 
Vasey,  'lliomas,  225,  233. 
Vermont  Methodist  Seminary,  375. 
Vincent,  John  H.,  524,  567,  671. 
X'irgmia  Conference,  259,  296. 
Walden,  John  M.,  524,  555,  556,  561. 
Walsli,  Cornelius,  51 1. 
Walters,  A.,  595. 
Ward,  Franklin,  531- 
Ward,  Thomas,  M.D.,  586. 
Ware,  Thomas,  198,   2H,    269,    270, 

283,  316,  331- 
Warner,  C,  299. 
Warren,  Elizabeth  Uiff,  665. 


INDEX. 


713 


Warren,  Henry  W.,  550. 
Warren,  Orris  H.,  547. 
Warren,  William  F.,  654,  667. 
Warren,  Mrs.  William  F.,  654. 
Washington,  George,  157,   251,   264, 

266. 
Watch-night,  92. 
Watson,  J.  v.,  494,  496. 
Watters,  Edward,  583. 
Watters,  William,  133,  148,  182,  187, 

188. 
Watts   de  Peyster  Industrial  Home, 

677. 
Waugh,  Beverly,  379,  387,  399,  439, 

440,  441,  447,  456,  497. 
Wayman,  Alexander  W.,  586. 
Webb,    Captain    Thomas,     103-107, 

III,  112,  136. 
Webster,  Daniel,  494. 
Wentworth,  Erastus,  539. 
Wesley,  Bartholomew,  28,  29,  34. 
Wesley,  Charles,  49,   79,  89,  93,  94, 

261. 
Wesley,  John  (son  of  Bartholomew), 

29-34- 

Wesley,  John,  childhood,  49-52 ; 
Charterhouse  School,  52 ;  West- 
minster School,  53 ;  Oxford,  54- 
58 ;  curate  at  Epworth,  59 ;  asceti- 
cism, 61,  62;  Georgia,  65-72;  con- 
version, 73-76 ;  Herrnhut,  76 ; 
open-air  services,  79  >  controversy 
with  Whitefield,  80-83;  niobbed, 
88 ;  Ireland,  89,  90 ;  American 
Revolution,  158-167,  196;  Coke, 
227,  228,  231-236,  252;  American 
Methodists,  254-256 ;  bishops,  257 ; 
death,  272 ;  character,  273-280. 

Wesley,  Samuel,  Ti2t^  36-41,  63. 

Wesley,  Susannah,  51. 

Wesley  family,  27. 

Wesleyan  Academy,  N.  H.,  354. 

Wesleyan  Antislavery  Society,  388. 

"  Wesleyan  Journal,"  387. 

Wesleyan  Methodist  Connection  or 
Church  of  America,  404,  406,  520, 
609-613. 

Wesleyan  Methodists,  403. 

"  Wesleyan  Quarterly  Review,"  387. 

"  Wesleyan  Repository,"  364. 

W^esleyan  Seminary,  New  York  City, 
354- 


Wesleyan  University,  375,  663,  699. 
"  Western  Christian  Advocate,"  376, 

480. 
Western  Maryland  College,  606. 
Westminster  Assembly,  19. 
Whatcoat,    Richard,    225,    232,    233, 

240,  255,   256,  296,  301,  302,  314, 

329- 

Whedon,  Daniel  D.,  386,  496, 
500. 

Wheeler,  Alfred,  547. 

White,  Bishop,  317,  318,  320. 

White,  John  (Samuel  Wesley's  grand- 
father), 30,  34,  35,  44. 

White,  John  (grandfather  of  Susan- 
nah Annesley),  44. 

White,  Moses  C,  652. 

White,  Judge  Thomas,  175-177,  179, 
180. 

White,  Mrs.  Thomas,  352. 

Whitefield,  George,  72,  74,  80-84, 
97,  123. 

Whitehead,  Thomas,  306. 

Whitehead,  William  H.,  523. 

Whitelamb,  276. 

Whittier,  John  G.,  385,  401. 

Whitworth,  Abraham,  150. 

Wickliffe,  3. 

Wightman,  William    M.,    480,    618, 

631.  633- 
Wilberforce,  273. 
Wilberforce  University,  585. 
Wilbraham  Academy,  362. 
Wilder,  W.  H.,  666. 
Wiley,  Isaac  W.,  537,  559,  655. 
Wiley  University,  539,  699. 
Willamette  University,  489,  699. 
Willard,  Frances  E.,  564. 
Willerup,  C,  653. 
William  of  Orange,  22-24. 
Williams,  Robert,  1 19,  120,  124,  134, 

141,  142,  174,  213. 
Williams,  Thomas,  89. 
Williamsport     Dickinson    Seminary, 

489. 
Willis,  Henry,  249. 
Wilmer,  Mary,  352. 
Wilson,  Alpheus  W.,  639. 
Wilson,  John,  331,  335. 
Winans,  William,  417,  420,  432,  443. 
Wise,  Daniel,  494,  496,  499,  524. 
Woflord  College,  622. 


714 


INDEX. 


Wolsey,  Cardinal,  4. 

Woman's  College  of  Baltimore,  668, 

669,  699. 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society, 

653.  654- 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society, 

^55-  .     ,   , 

"  Woman's      Missionary      Friend,' 

654- 
Women  in  Methodism,  352,  353. 
Women  in  the  General  Conference. 

See  Eligibility  of  Women. 
Women,  refused  licenses,   541,   550, 

584;  licensed,  590,  595,  596. 
Wood,  George,  488. 


Wooster,  Hezekiah  Calvin,  294. 

Wrangle,  Dr.,  120. 

Wright,  John  A.,  531. 

Wright,  Joseph  A.,  511. 

Wright,  Richard,  127,  146. 

Wyandotte  Indians,  487. 

Yearbry,  Joseph,  137. 

Young,  Benjamin,  312. 

Young,  Jacob,  299. 

Young,  Jesse  Bowman,  573. 

Young,  Robert  A.,  640. 

Zinzendorf,  Count,  77,  78. 

"  Zion's  Herald,"  362,  399,  472,  481, 

659- 
"  Zion's  Watchman,"  387,  393. 


TLbc  Hnierican  Cburcb  Ibistor^  Series. 


By  Suuscription, 


IN  Thirteen  Volumes,  at  $2.50  per  Volume 


Vol.  1. 

Vol.  ii. 

Vol.  111. 

Vol.  IV. 

Vol.  V. 

Vol.  VI. 

Vol.  Vll. 

Vol.  Vlll. 


The  Religious  Forces  of  the  United  States,  H.  K.  Carroll,  LL.D., 

Editor  of  The  Independent,  Supt.  Church  Statistics,  U.  S.  Census,  etc. 
Baptists,     . 


Congregationalists, 

Lutherans, 

Methodists, 

Presbyterians,   . 
Protestant  Episcopal, 


Moravian, 


Vol.    IX.      Roman  Catholics, 


Vol.     X.- 


Vol.    XI.- 


Vol.  Xll. 


Vol.  Xlll. 


Rev.  a.  H.  Newman,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

Professor  of  Church  History,  McMaster 

University  of  Toronto,  Ont. 

Rev.  Williston  Walker,  Ph.D., 

Professor  of  Modern  Church  History, 
Theological  Seminary,  Hartford,  Conn. 

Rev.  H.  E.  Jacobs,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
Professor  of  Systematic  Theology  in  the 
Ev.  Lutheran  Seminary,  Phila.,  Pa. 

Rev.  J.  M.  Buckley    D.D.,  LL.D., 

Editor  of  the  New  York  Cliristian 
Advocate. 

Rev.  Robert  Ellis  Thompson,  D.D., 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Rev.  C.  C.  Tiffany,  D.D. 
New  York. 
Reformed  Church,  Dutch,  Rev.  E.  T.  Corwin,  D.D., 

Rector  Hertzog  Hall,  New  Brunswick,  N.J 
Reformed  Church,  German,REv.  J.  H.  Dubbs,  D.D., 

Professor  of  History,  Franklyn  and 
Marshall  College,  Lancaster,  Pa. 

Rev.  J.  T.  Hamilton,  D.D., 
Professor  of  Church  History,  Theological 
Seminary,  Bethlehem,  Pa. 

Rev.  T.  O'Gorman,  D.D., 

Professor  of  Church  History,  Catholic 
University,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Rev.  J.  H.  Allen,  D.D., 
Late  Lecturer  on  Ecclesiastical  History, 
Harvard  University,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

Rev.  Richard  Eddy,  D.D., 

Providence,  R.  I, 
Rev.  Gross  Alexander,  D.D., 
Professor   Greek   and    N.  T.  Exegesis, 
Nashville,  Tenn. 

Rev.  Thomas  C.  Johnson,  D.D., 
Professor     Ecclesiastical     History    and 
Polity,  Hampden-Sidney,  Va. 

Rev.  James  B.  Scouller,  D.D., 

Newville,  Pa. 
Rev.  R.  V.  Foster,  D.D., 
Professor  Biblical  Exegesis,  Cumberland 
University,  Lebanon,  Tenn. 

Rev.   R.   B.  Tyler,   D.D.,  New  York. 

Prof.  A.  C.    Thomas,  M.A., 

Haverford  College,  Haverford,  Pa. 
R.   H.  Thomas,  M.D.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Rev.   D.   Berger,  D.D.,  Dayton,  Ohio. 

Rev.  S.  p.  Spreng, 
Editor  Evangelical  Messenger,  Cleve- 
land, Ohio. 

Rev.  Samuel  Macauley  Jackson, 

New  York. 


Unitarians, 

Universalists,    , 
M.  E.  Church,  So., 

Presbyterians,  So., . 

United  Presbyterians, 
Cumb.  Presbyterians, 

Disciples,    . 

FriendSj 

United  Brethren,     . 
Ev.  Association, 


Bibliography, 

History  of 

American 

Christianity, 


Rev.  Leonard  Woolsey  Bacon,  D.D. 


Date  Due 


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